Esther Rantzen jokes she'll 'haunt' MPs if they vote against assisted dying

Watch: Esther Rantzen says she'll 'come back and haunt' MPs if assisted dying law doesn't change

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Dame Esther Rantzen has joked that she will "come back and haunt" MPs if they don't vote for a change to the assisted dying law today.

The broadcaster and campaigner is terminally ill and has been a leading voice in the campaign to change the UK law on assisted dying, which goes to a vote in Parliament today. Rantzen has said she will visit the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland if she has to at the end of her life.

Meanwhile, Good Morning Britain also spoke to actor Liz Carr who has campaigned against the law changing, expressing her concerns on how it could affect disabled people.

What, how, and why?

Dame Esther Rantzen has admitted she did not expect to still be around to witness today's vote in Parliament on changing the assisted dying law, but joked that she would "come back and haunt" MPs if they voted against it.

The broadcaster, campaigner and ChildLine founder opened up on her plans to visit the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland for an assisted death after being diagnosed with terminal cancer and has been campaigning for the UK law to change so that she can die with her family by her side in the UK.

Speaking to Good Morning Britain about what she would do if the vote did not go her way, she said: "I will go to Dignitas in Europe for an assisted death which I hope will be quick and kind and merciful and easy. And then, I shall come back and haunt the Members of Parliament that haven't changed our law yet."

Read more:

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• Assisted dying bill: This is how MPs plan to vote (Sky News, 4 min read)

• What is in the new assisted dying Bill MPs are considering? (PA Media, 7 min read)

Rantzen also addressed some of the criticism of a potential change in the law, which has included concerns about the effects it could have for disabled people.

She said: "I'm very saddened by the fact that for example disabled people feel that they'll be in any way involved because this bill only applies to people who are terminally ill, in the last six months of their life. It doesn't apply to any disabled people who are not terminally ill, in the last six months of life. But some of the active campaigners clearly believe that having a disability means that your life isn't valued and I think that's a terrible reflection on the way they've been treated."

The TV star admitted that she had not expected to still be alive to see the vote take place.

She said: "Keir Starmer asked if I would be able to hear the debate and I never thought that was possible, but I've been lucky enough to have one of these new miracle drugs and low and behold I will be listening, watching, glued to my television, with everything crossed that the vote will go towards a change in this cruel, messy law.

"What is happening at the moment is compelling people to have really agonising deaths and I'm afraid that memory of someone in agony becomes a terribly, terribly tragic memory that overwhelms other happier memories. The legislators at the moment need to recognise that the law is a mess and it's cruel and it's not the kind of law that as a compassionate country we should have in place."

What did Liz Carr say about the vote on assisted dying?

However, not everyone agrees with Rantzen's stance - Silent Witness star Liz Carr has been a vocal opponent of a change in the law and made a documentary, Better Off Dead?, about her concerns.

Carr visited Canada to find out how a change in their law had seen knock-on effects for disabled people and those with mental health struggles, and also spoke to Good Morning Britain on Friday from outside Westminster.

She argued that there needed to be more investment in NHS palliative care, saying: "People at the end of life absolutely don't have choice, but they don't have choice of the basics, and we need to get that right before we can have another conversation."

Talking about Rantzen's argument that a painful death could be traumatic for their loved ones to witness, she said: "Of course the death experience is about everybody who is around that, but there's an awful lot about the projection of fear...Nobody believes that palliative care can do everything, but we are not even giving it a chance."

Carr, who has said that she worries disabled people could be coerced into ending their lives prematurely, said of a potential change to the law: "Once we've crossed the line...it does get easier to allow it for other groups of people."

Good Morning Britain airs on ITV1 at 6am on weekdays.