Sir Keir Starmer has pledged that parliament will debate and vote on changing assisted dying laws if Labour wins the next general election.
In a phone call to TV presenter and assisted dying campaigner Dame Esther Rantzen, the Labour leader said he was “personally in favour of changing the law” around assisted dying.
In footage shown by ITV News, Sir Keir told the Childline founder: “I think we need to make time. We will make the commitment. Esther, I can give you that commitment right now.”
Dame Esther has been a persistent advocate for a vote on assisted dying since her terminal cancer diagnosis in 2023.
She revealed that she joined the Swiss assisted dying society Dignitas to ensure that her family’s “last memories of me” are not “painful” because “if you watch someone you love having a bad death, that memory obliterates all the happy times”.
Dame Esther Rantzen has said people should no longer be able to claim allowing assisted dying is detrimental to a country’s palliative care system, after a parliamentary report found no indications this is the case
She added that if her family accompanied her to Switzerland the police “might prosecute them”. At present, assisted suicide is banned in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.
In Scotland, it is not a specific criminal offence but assisting the death of someone can leave a person open to potential murder charges.
A bill to make assisted dying legal in Scotland being put forward by Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur is expected to come before Holyrood in the coming weeks.
The Health and Social Care committee has also warned that the government must consider what to do if the law is changed in part of the UK, Isle of Man or Jersey.
It said legalisation in at least one jurisdiction was looking “increasingly likely” and suggested the government must be “actively involved” in discussions about how to approach differences in the law.
Sir Keir’s pledge marks a historic juncture after years of campaigning by pro-assisted dying groups. In his previous role as director of public prosecutions, the Labour leader recommended that families who assist terminally ill loved ones to die should not be subject to prosecution.
The man who wants to be the next prime minister has said he would offer MPs a “free vote” meaning members would not be compelled by party line to vote for or against the proposal.
But Sir Keir’s personal position means that this would be the first time the law would be debated under a prime minister who was supportive of the plans.
The last time MPs voted on legalising assisted suicide was back in 2015, when the bill was defeated by 330 votes to 118.
The bold new stance catapults the UK into alignment with its European neighbour after French president Emmanuel Macron announced that a bill on assisted dying would go before the French parliament in May.
Under the proposed legislation, doctors would be able to prescribe a lethal substance to those suffering from incurable illnesses and pain, but who were still in control of their faculties.
Mr Macron said the bill showed people were “facing up to death” and that it would “reconcile the autonomy of the individual and the solidarity of the nation”.
Emmanuel Macron has said a bill on assisted dying will be presented to France’s Council of Ministers in April
A poll by Opinium on behalf of pro-assisted dying group Dignity in Dying showed an overwhelming majority of support for a change in the law across England, Scotland and Wales.
Of 10,000 people polled, 75 per cent said they supported a change in the law, versus 14 per cent who were opposed.
The poll found a majority of support across all age groups, with most Christians, Jews, Hindus and Sikhs favouring a change in the law.
Those of the Muslim faith are the only demographic to broadly oppose assisted suicide, reducing support in some constituencies with large Muslim populations.
Sir Keir said the new law would address concerns about pressurising vulnerable people into assisted deaths and include the introduction of safeguards.
He said: “When I consulted on this for the prosecutor’s guidelines, the churches and faith groups and others were very, very powerful in the arguments they made. We have to respect that and find the right balance in the end.
“I do think most people coalesce around the idea that there is a case [for assisted dying] where it is obviously compassionate, it is the settled intent of the individual, and there are safeguards with teeth to protect the vulnerable.”
Sarah Wootton, chief executive of Dignity in Dying said that Sir Keir’s intervention shows that “parliamentarians are listening”: “Assisted dying has emerged as a vital issue among voters of all political persuasions…Crucially, Parliamentarians are listening. Both the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition have committed to give this historic matter the time it needs in Parliament, should they be our next Prime Minister.”
She added: “Only a free vote early in the next parliament can deliver what our terminally ill citizens need – a safe and compassionate law providing choice at the end of life.
“Voters are rightly demanding to know which political parties and candidates will give assisted dying the time and attention it deserves, and which will cling to a status quo that is unsafe, unfair, unequal and more than six decades out of date. As Sir Keir has recognised – dying people simply do not have time to wait.”
