UK (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Campaigner Esther Rantzen, who has terminal cancer, praised Commons approval of assisted dying bill as “rigorous and safe,” urging no delays in the Lords.
As reported by The Guardian, Esther Rantzen said the assisted dying bill, if passed, would spare families the pain of watching loved ones suffer while ensuring protections remain in place.
The terminal illness bill cleared the Commons with a 23-vote majority but still awaits debate in the Lords before returning for final review.
What did Esther Rantzen say in support of the assisted dying bill?
Esther Rantzen stated on Saturday,
“I think people misunderstand when somebody says: ‘One of the reasons I wanted assisted dying was I didn’t want to be a burden’. Well, that’s how I feel, in the sense that if I die in agony, that memory will be a burden for my family. Not because I’m awkward or inconvenient, I may be both those things, but because nobody wants to see a loved one die in pain. Nobody wants that.”
When asked about concerns regarding the bill, she said during a BBC interview,
“I think we have got this right. Having the committee stage [in parliament], with that committee rigorously looking at every clause and deciding to set up a multidisciplinary panel of social workers, someone versed in psychology, someone legal, so that they could examine it in each case.”
She argued the bill was
“so rigorous and so safe. And, in other countries around the world, which we’ve looked at because they’ve had assisted dying legalised for some time, it has not produced coercion.”
The legislation may face hurdles in the House of Lords, with critics ready to suggest more limits and protections. Ms Rantzen was warned it could be stalled deliberately to halt its progress before the session ends.
She stated,
“I don’t need to teach the House of Lords how to do their job. They know it very well, and they know that laws are produced by the elected chamber. Their job is to scrutinise, to ask questions, but not to oppose.”
Ms Rantzen, facing terminal cancer and approaching her 85th birthday, said she may need to travel to Zurich’s Dignitas as the law might not pass in time.
What did Tanni Grey-Thompson say about strengthening the assisted dying bill?
The Paralympian and crossbench peer Tanni Grey-Thompson stated,
“We’re getting ready for it to come to the Lords and, from my personal point of view, about amending it to make it stronger … I do think there are a lot more safeguards that could be put in.”
Kim Leadbeater’s views on the Lords’ role in the assisted dying bill
Kim Leadbeater, the Labour MP who led the bill’s passage in the Commons, urged peers not to block or derail it.
She said,
“I would be upset to think that anybody was playing games with such an important and such an emotional issue.”
Baroness Grey-Thompson’s stance on the dying bill
Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, a former Paralympian, said she will push for significant revisions to the assisted dying bill.
She stated,
“I mean, currently it can be offered to people with learning disabilities without training. There’s loopholes in anorexia. And I think there are loopholes around children – a young person only has to say the conversation started on their 18th birthday, and that’s it.”
She stated people on both sides of the debate are “scared” and called for a balanced way forward, adding,
“That’s actually the Lords’ job, you know, the Lords is there to amend, it’s there to improve, and it’s there to try and sort of reconcile lots of different, very complicated views.”
Baroness Grey-Thompson added,
“I’m worried about disabled people. This Bill is not going to take place in isolation from the swingeing government cuts that we’re expecting around disability and the welfare system has to be reformed.”
Diane Abbott’s views on the assisted dying debate
Diane Abbott, Labour MP, called on parliamentarians to reject the bill for the sake of the vulnerable.
She added,
“I came to this house to be a voice for the voiceless. Who could be more voiceless than somebody who is in their sickbed and believes they are dying? I ask members in this debate to speak up for the voiceless one more time.”
Key facts about the Terminally Ill Adults
- Adults 18+ in England and Wales with less than 6 months to live.
- Must be able to make clear, informed decisions without pressure.
- Must be registered with a GP in England or Wales for at least 1 year.
- Disabilities or mental illness alone don’t qualify unless terminally ill.
- Two independent doctors must confirm the illness and mental capacity.
- A team (lawyer, psychiatrist, social worker) checks applications, with no judge involved.
- Patients must take it themselves; doctors cannot do it for them.