Yahoo News Esther Rantzen's daughter issues warning to Starmer if he 'lied' to her mum
Sir Keir Starmer made a promise to Dame Esther Rantzen before becoming Prime Minister
Watch: Esther Rantzen's daughter issues warning to Starmer if he 'lied' to her mum
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Dame Esther Rantzen's daughter Rebecca Wilcox told the prime minister "we will come down on you like a tonne of bricks" if he fails to hold a vote on legalising assisted dying in the UK.
Assisted dying is illegal in the UK and can be prosecuted as murder or manslaughter. In recent months, Dame Rantzen — who is terminally ill with stage four lung cancer — reignited the debate around assisted dying as she announced she had joined Dignitas, which is a Swiss non-profit organisation that provides physician-assisted dying.
Before becoming Prime Minister, Starmer made a special promise to Dame Rantzen that if he was “privileged enough to win the election” then he would “make time for this vote" on assisted dying.
After the King's Speech this week failed to mention the assisted dying bill, Wilcox joined Good Morning Britain presenters Rob Rinder and Charlotte Hawkins. In an impassioned moment, Wilcox vowed to "come down" on Starmer like a "tonne of bricks" if he lied about his promise to have a vote on assisted dying.
What, how and why?
"I feel it’s so little and I feel that was a promise and I really don’t want to think he would lie because if you lied to my mum, god help you," she said.
"I mean, seriously, we are a family of campaigners, we will come down on you like a tonne of bricks as this is important and time is running out for the hundreds of people who are currently in pain and are currently watching loved ones go through this. It is really important that it happens now."
The King's speech did not mention the assisted dying bill. While Wilcox admitted she was disappointed by this, she continues to have faith in the Prime Minister and his promise to her mum. She responded: “Really disappointed. I thought I had misheard and I searched the whole transcript thinking ‘how has this not come in?’ this was a campaign promise.”
In an emotional moment, Wilcox made a plea on assisted dying on breakfast TV. She said: “Can we please make this possible for her. This is her last great wish for her own sake and for everyone else going through this."
She continued: “I’m sorry, I find it very difficult to talk about this and not get wound up because I don’t want her to go through a painful death. I don’t want my memories of her to be completely dissolved by pain and agony in those last few days.”
Esther Rantzen health update
The devoted daughter also shared an update on her mum's health as she said she's "living from scan to scan". She added: "She is on this miracle drug which seems to be working but we don’t have any long term data for how long it will work. At the moment it’s working and yes we live scan to scan but we’re really enjoying what we have."
She explained: "We feel like we are living in an hourglass and the sand is pouring on us and there will come a point where our heads are no longer above it and I really want the politicians, the MP’s, the people of this country to realise that we all have a choice in how we live and I want us to have a choice in how we die."
Liz Carr reveals 'chilling' reality of assisted dying clinic
On the other side of the debate is Silent Witness actor Liz Carr. Carr told Yahoo about the "chilling" reality of an assisted dying clinic that she visited in documentary Better Off Dead?.
The actor and activist worries about what the future could look like for vulnerable people if assisted dying was made legal in the UK. Taking viewers behind the scenes of an assisted dying clinic in Canada, Carr hoped to show the stark reality. In Canada, MAID (Medical Assisted In Dying) was made legal in 2016. In Better Off Dead?, the presenter met with Dr Ellen Wiebe in her office where people have ended their lives with MAID.
She told Yahoo: "It just felt really surreal. These places are really weird because I think sometimes there's that idea of death can be scary and horrible and people are suffering and we don't want that. So therefore, is this a very beautiful kind of velvet pillow death?
"And of course, life mostly isn't like that. It depends on your view and what you want from your own death. It was chilling in the room."
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