Sir Keir Starmer has insisted he would support a change in the law on assisted dying by making it a free vote for MPs if he becomes Prime Minister.
The Labour leader said he was an “advocate” for reform and warned the current law was not working.
Dame Esther Rantzen’s, who has stage 4 lung cancer, is campaigning with this newspaper for rights that would allow the terminally ill and seriously sick to choose how and when to die under our Give Us Our Last Rights crusade.
Sir Keir, who backed a failed bid by MPs to change legislation in 2015, said: “I am an advocate of a change to the law. Obviously that change has to be very carefully crafted.”
He added: “It shouldn’t really be for the prosecutor to try and make the law work when it doesn’t really. It’d be better for parliament to actually change the law.”
The Opposition leader also said the “best route” was probably through a private member’s bill (PMB), brought by a backbench MP.
He added: “And yes, I would be open to making time for that (as prime minister).”
This is significant because with limited time available for the consideration of PMBs, generally only bills with Government and cross-party support are successful.
Asked if he would vote to change the law, Sir Keir said he would “subject to it being the right change”.
He also backed calls for a “free vote”, meaning MPs would not be whipped along party lines and would instead vote with their consciences.
The Express has received dozens of messages of support from those suffering in silence, grateful we are championing a cause ignored by politicians but considered vital to so many.
The correspondence singled out Dame Esther, 83 – who set up the charity Childline to protect children in 1986, and The Silver Line to comfort lonely older people in 2013 – for leading the way.
