Dame Esther Rantzen: Broadcaster with lung cancer may not "live long enough" to see assisted dying debate

Dame Esther Rantzen has said she might not “live long enough” to see assisted dying debated again in Parliament.

In 2023 the 83-year-old journalist and broadcaster, who has stage four lung cancer, urged MPs to hold a debate when parliament returned in 2024 and said any vote has to take place outside the party whip system. The Childline founder told BBC’s The Today Podcast in December that she had joined Dignitas, an assisted dying clinic in Switzerland, and said she would consider the option if her lung cancer treatment does not improve her condition.

Her daughter, TV presenter Rebecca Wilcox, said she found it “surprising” when her mother revealed she had joined the clinic.

In a video clip sent to ITV's Loose Women, Dame Esther said: "I don’t know whether I’ll live long enough to see this debated in Parliament, but if you do agree with me, please, please make your views known to your MP.

"And for those who disagree, maybe on religious principles or maybe because they’re professionally absorbed in palliative care and believe that this goes against what they practise in medicine, can I just say, all we ask for is the choice. That’s all we’re asking for.

"We don’t want to impose our views on you, but we do want the choice ourselves."

Currently, assisted suicide is banned in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with a maximum prison sentence of 14 years. In 2015 a Bill to legalise assisted dying in the UK was defeated.

The Health and Social Care Committee is due to publish its report into assisted dying and assisted suicide in England and Wales, having launched an inquiry in December 2022 to examine different perspectives in the debate.

Dame Esther has called for a free vote on the issue, as her family could be prosecuted if they were to travel with her to a Dignitas clinic.