Keir Starmer tells Esther Rantzen he wants to change law on assisted dying
Keir Starmer has told Dame Esther Rantzen that he wants to change the law on assisted dying if he becomes Prime Minister.
The Labour leader committed to holding a free vote in Parliament within five years if he wins the general election later this year. Speaking to the TV legend Dame Esther, 83, in a phone call filmed by ITV News, the Labour leader told her: “I’m personally in favour of changing the law. I think we need to make time. We will make the commitment. Esther, I can give you that commitment right now."
When pressed by ITV News on whether he’d like a vote to take place in the next Parliament, Mr Starmer replied: “Oh yes, definitely. I think Esther would agree with this. For people who are going through this or are likely to go through it in the next few months or years, this matters hugely and delay just prolongs the agony.”
Dame Esther sparked a national conversation on the issue when she revealed she had stage 4 lung cancer last year. She has previously said she is considering going to the Swiss assisted-dying clinic Dignitas if a "miracle" drug fails to treat her condition. According to figures from Dignitas over 500 UK citizens have ended their lives there between 1998 and 2022 - around 15% of all deaths registered at the clinic.
Speaking to the BBC in February Dame Esther said her own death is "constantly in my mind". She said: "It would give me so much confidence if I could also know that however the illness progresses, whatever pain it causes, wherever it strikes me next, I will still have the choices of a pain free, dignified private death surrounded by the people I love.
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Keir Starmer tells Esther Rantzen: 'I’m personally in favour of changing the law' (PA)"I’m not demanding that everybody in the world agrees with me, I’m just saying let’s debate all the issues now that we’ve got international evidence and we know the public attitude is in favour."
Mr Starmer also said it was possible to introduce safeguards to protect vulnerable people. He said: “Firstly, I think the debate has to be conducted with respect. I personally think the law should be changed. There will be people equally passionate, with powerful points to make about why it shouldn't be.”
Mr Starmer, who was Director of Public Prosecutions between 2008 and 2013, added:“When I consulted on this for the prosecutor's guidelines, the churches and faith groups and others were very, very powerful in the arguments they made.
"We have to respect that and find the right balance in the end. I do think most people coalesce around the idea that there is a case [for assisted dying] where it is obviously compassionate, it is the settled intent of the individual, and there are safeguards with teeth to protect the vulnerable.”
MPs last voted on the issue almost a decade ago but the bid to allow doctors to help terminally ill people end their lives was defeated in the Commons. A poll for The Mirror earlier this year found a clear majority of the public (71%) support assisted dying being made legal in the UK. A separate survey by ITV published today shows 75% back a change in the law.
But Paralympian Tanni Grey-Thompson, 54, has previously warned against a change in the law. Baroness Grey-Thompson expressed sympathy with Dame Esther in January but she said there would be "really big consequences if we change the law". She said she was "really worried that disabled people, because of the cost of health and social care, because that's being removed, that choice is then taken away so the only choice they have is to end their lives".
Groups such as Care Not Killing also argue changing the law could place pressure on vulnerable people to end their lives for fear of being a financial or emotional burden. Chief Executive of the group Dr Gordon Macdonald said: “Changing the law to legalise assisted suicide and euthanasia in the UK would represent a dramatic change in how doctors and nurses treat and care for people and put the lives of the vulnerable, terminally ill and disabled people at risk. Indeed, these dangers are particularly acute when the health service is crumbling, hospices are underfunded and one in every four people who would benefit from palliative can’t access it."
MPs would have to grapple with the sensitive issue of assisted dying if there is another vote. A Commons inquiry last month said the fact that people with opposing views draw on examples around the world to support their argument "shows the complexity of the issue". It highlighted two "distinct models" in countries where some form of assisted dying is legal. These include limited assisted dying to just those with a terminal illness, or adding provisions for "unbearable suffering".
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