Should assisted dying be legalised? Email megan.howe@mailonline.co.ukCelebrities and campaigners will gather in Westminster today ahead of a debate on assisted dying, after cancer-stricken Dame Esther Rantzen backed the campaign.
The Childline founder, 83, previously led a chorus of dismay after a report by MPs into assisted dying failed to deliver any clear-cut findings or proposals — and called for a free vote into the issue. Last week, Dame Esther said she will 'sadly' be unable to attend Monday's event in person because of her health, but vowed she 'will be watching the debate closely as it affects my own decision to go to Dignitas in Zurich if necessary, to protect my family from witnessing a painful death'.
Paul Carroll, who had signed up with Dignitas, told GMB that he ripped up his membership after seeing his aunt, his mother and his mother-in-law through to the end of their lives. She said she is confident that 'one way or another this change will be coming to the UK in the next few years' and described Westminster as being 'left in the dust' while reforms are being debated in nearby jurisdictions.
Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi, a member of the Petitions Committee, is due to open the debate, while victims and safeguarding minister Laura Farris will respond on behalf of the Government.The issue was last voted on in the Commons in 2015, when it was defeated at second reading stage by 330 votes to 118.
In Scotland, it is not a specific criminal offence but assisting the death of someone can leave a person open to being charged with murder or other offences.
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