Clear majority support legalising assisted dying after Esther Rantzen campaign

31 December 2023 , 19:00

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Dame Esther Rantzen wants MPs to be given a free vote on assisted dying (Image: Steve Reigate)

A clear majority of the public back a change in the law on assisted dying, a poll for The Mirror reveals.

Dame Esther Rantzen, who recently sparked a national conversation on the sensitive issue, said MPs must now be given a free vote "as soon as possible". She said it was "wonderful" The Mirror had polled the public on the issue, adding: "I know that most people now feel that they would like to have the choice."

The TV legend, 83, revealed earlier in December she had stage 4 lung cancer and plans to go to Swiss assisted-dying clinic Dignitas if a "miracle" drug fails to treat her condition.

According to the survey by Deltapoll, 71% of the public support assisted dying being made legal in the UK while just 13% are opposed and 16% said they did not know. There is equal support among those who voted Tory and Labour at the 2019 election. A staggering 72% of people also back Dame Esther's call for MPs to be given a free vote -meaning they are not under pressure to vote with their party - on the issue.

Assisted dying was voted on in Parliament nearly a decade ago but a bill to legalise the practice was defeated. Under existing law relatives who help a person end their life could face a maximum of 14 years' imprisonment.

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Dame Esther told The Mirror: "I think as a humane decision to have the debate as soon as possible, to have a free vote, would be right for millions of people - at least we would discuss it." She said she is "not surprised" by the poll results "because I know that most people now feel that they would like to have the choice and that's all we're asking for, is the choice". "We're not asking for this to be imposed on anyone. People have very strong beliefs, some religious beliefs, which would make it impossible for them. We fully understand that."

She added: "But the rest of us I think feel that we want to be able to choose a death which does not mean our family has to watch us suffering. I think for me that is my principle concern because I know a memory of a bad death, a painful death, somebody who is longing to die but is being kept alive and suffering, that memory obliterates previous memories of happiness, or can do. What we don't want now is for people who are adamantly against assisted dying to impose their views on us."

A spokesman for the Dignity in Dying group, which believes assisted dying should be made legal, said: “This poll shows again that the vast majority of the British public want to see a new law that gives dying people choice and control over the ends of their lives."

He added: “We know that 2024 will be a crucial election year in Westminster, and it is right that the next Parliament heeds Dame Esther Rantzen’s calls for a free vote on assisted dying so that legislation can be properly debated and progressed after the next election.

"Those MPs who enter the next Parliament must understand the overwhelming public support for law change. There is support across the country that cuts across age groups, political views and classes. The next year provides a great opportunity for our elected representatives to listen to the public, to look to other countries that have already given this choice to their dying citizens, and put their efforts behind public support for a safe and compassionate law at the end of life.”

Before Christmas the Labour leader Keir Starmer said there were "grounds" for changing the law. He said: "We would have to be careful but it would have to be a free vote on an issue where there are such strong views."

But some campaign groups oppose moves to weaken or change the law on assisted dying. Over the weekend the Daily Telegraph reported the Catholic Union of Great Britain has expressed concerns legalisation would risk worsening NHS staff shortages. One of the group's members told them: “It is already difficult for Catholics to enter the medical/ nursing profession. Any move to make assisted suicide easier would make it much harder, and some areas of medicine impossible to work in."

The group's submission to an MPs' committee inquiry on assisted dying states they are "resolutley opposed to the introduction of assisted suicide in any form". It adds: "This position is based on the clear imperative in natural law, which is reflected in the teaching of the Catholic Church. It is also as a result of the lived experience of Catholics throughout the world."

Deltapoll interviewed 1,642 British adults online between 22nd and 29th December 2023. The data have been weighted to be representative of the British adult population as a whole.