Dame Esther takes aim at critics of assisted dying bill

Dame Esther Rantzen made a last-ditch appeal to MPs tonight as she spoke of her disappointment at Wes Streeting’s ‘vocal opposition’ to assisted dying laws.

The terminally-ill broadcaster, 84, also took aim at some critics of the proposed legislation for ‘distorting facts’ and asked them to ‘be honest’ about their motivations.

She was writing to parliamentarians urging them to attend tomorrow’s debate ahead of the first vote for almost a decade on legalising the controversial practice.

Meanwhile, former prime minister Lord Cameron – who was opposed to the previous Assisted Dying Bill in 2015 – tonight said he would now vote for it if it makes its way through to the Lords. 

The Tory peer, whose disabled son Ivan died in 2009 aged six after suffering from epilepsy, wrote in The Times that legalising assisted dying will bring about a ‘meaningful reduction in human suffering’.

Childline founder Dame Esther has been praised for bringing the issue to the fore after revealing she had signed up to Swiss clinic Dignitas last year due to her stage 4 lung cancer. 

Asked about ministers who have publicly stated their opposition to the assisted dying Bill, Dame Esther said of the Health Secretary: ‘Wes Streeting has disappointed me, because ministers were asked not to campaign, and he has been very vocal in his opposition.’

Mr Streeting has faced criticism for revealing that he will vote against the Bill because he fears legalising assisted deaths could harm the health service.

Cabinet Secretary Simon Case last month urged ministers to remain neutral and Sir Keir Starmer issued a thinly veiled rebuke to his Health Secretary for his comments.

Dame Esther added that she had been ‘heartened’ by politicians, including Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who have admitted that their opposition to assisted dying is formed by their religious faith.

But the former That’s Life presenter told LBC: ‘Some of them, I’ve noticed, have been claiming facts which are not facts, distorting evidence, when really their reason is that they believe for faith reasons, religious reasons, that this Bill should be opposed.

‘Well, be honest about it, please. Disclose your real reasons and then we understand your motivation.’

In the letter to MPs with pro-assisted death lobby group Dignity in Dying, she wrote: ‘It is only right that as many MPs as possible listen to the arguments for and against, and make up your own minds, according to your own conscience, your personal thoughts and feelings.’