Dame Esther Rantzen: Minister Mel Stride ‘not averse’ to new assisted dying vote

A Cabinet minister has mentioned he “would not be averse” to a brand new parliamentary debate on assisted dying after Dame Esther Rantzen referred to as for a free vote on the topic.

Dame Esther, 83, who has stage four lung cancer, revealed earlier this week she had joined the Dignitas assisted dying clinic.

The Childline founder and broadcaster mentioned throughout an interview with the BBC’s The Today Podcast she feels it’s “important that the law catches up with what the country wants”.

Her household may at present be prosecuted in the event that they have been to journey along with her to a Dignitas clinic.

A free vote means MPs and members of the House of Lords are usually not put beneath stress to vote a sure approach by their occasion.

Assisted suicide is banned in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and carries a most jail sentence of 14 years. In Scotland, it isn’t a particular prison offence, however helping the loss of life of somebody can depart an individual open to homicide or different prices.

Mel Stride, the work and pensions secretary who was amongst 27 Conservative MPs to vote for a invoice to legalise assisted dying in 2015, mentioned he thought some MPs could also be questioning “whether this should be something we look at again”.

The 2015 invoice was defeated by 330 votes to 118.

Mr Stride informed the BBC’s Today Programme: “The government has not decided to bring forward legislation, but if Parliament in some form or another decided that it wanted to have a fresh look at this, given it was some years ago that we last did so, that’s not something that I would be resistant to.”

He follows Housing Secretary Michael Gove, who mentioned on Tuesday he thought it was time for one more parliamentary debate on the difficulty.

Read extra: MP says current law on assisted dying robbed him of time with his father

‘Incredibly emotional’ subject

Health Secretary Victoria Atkins declined to offer her private view on whether or not there ought to be a vote on legalising assisted dying, however mentioned she recognised how “incredibly emotional” the difficulty is.

Asked if it was time for one more vote, Ms Atkins informed reporters: “This rightly is a matter for Parliament and for members of Parliament. It’s a matter of conscience.

“I really feel very honoured to be the secretary of state for well being, however I’m additionally very conscious of the accountability that brings and so it should be for Parliament, it should be for particular person members of Parliament. And I should not be, I can not be, drawn alone views as a result of I would not in any approach need to pre-empt that dialogue.”

‘Agonising to observe somebody you like undergo’

Dame Esther referred to as on MPs to consider their family members and the peaceable finish they would need them to have.

“It is agonising to watch someone you love suffer. Nobody wants that for their family. And we live in a day and age when it’s perfectly possible to offer people a gentle, peaceful death,” she informed the PA news company on Wednesday.

The prime minister’s official spokesman has mentioned the federal government’s place has not modified so it stays a matter for parliament to resolve and “an issue of conscience for individual parliamentarians rather than government policy – as it was in 2015 when the House considered it and rejected making any changes”.

The Health and Social Care Committee is because of publish its report into assisted dying and assisted suicide in England and Wales, having launched an inquiry in December 2022 to look at totally different views within the debate.