Cabinet minister Mel Stride has said it is time for parliament to look again at whether to legalise assisted dying in the UK.
Dame Esther Rantzen has called for free vote on assisted dying, after revealing that she has registered with the Swiss Dignitas clinic over her stage four lung cancer.
Mr Stride – the work and pensions secretary – said he believed that was those struggling with terminal illness should be able to “have control of the end of their life”.
It follows fellow cabinet minister Michael Gove’s backing for MPs to debate the issue once again, after a vote in 2015 which saw parliament reject a bill to legalise it.
Mr Stride – who voted in favour of assisted dying a decade ago – said it was one of the most “delicate and difficult” decisions he had taken since becoming an MP.
“I do think that it’s absolutely right that those who are in the final days or months of their lives should have the maximum opportunity to have control of the end of their life,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
The cabinet minister added: “But on the other side there are other big issues, some of them quite dangerous issues, like for example making sure that people don’t use any legislation to cajole anyone into taking these kinds of decisions.”
Mr Stride said he “wouldn’t be adverse” to a fresh debate and vote in the Commons. The senior Tory said he would want to take a “fresh look at it and come to a decision”. But he made clear the government was not bringing forward fresh bill.
Cabinet minister Mel Stride backed assisted dying at defeated 2015 vote— (AFP via Getty Images)
A bill to legalise assisted dying in the UK under strict controls was defeated, 330 votes to 118, in 2015. Assisted suicide is still banned in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.
Dame Esther told BBC Radio 4’s Today that she believed more people would want to choose the manner of their death if they were allowed – saying she was organise a free vote if she were PM.
The 83-year-old consumer champion and TV star reveal she had joined Dignitas, the Switzerland-based assisted dying organisation, to have a choice about the end of her life.
Her daughter said she “would want to ground her plane if she was going to fly to Zurich” – but knows it would be her mother’s choice after her mother revealed she has joined the Dignitas.
Asked about Dame Esther’s comments on Tuesday, Mr Gove told reporters: “I’m not yet persuaded of the case for assisted dying – but I do think that it’s appropriate for the Commons to revisit this … I would want to listen in humility to Dame Esther and others outline the case.”
Dame Esther Rantzen who has said she is considering the option of assisted dying— (PA)
Senior Tory Kit Malthouse, former minister at the Home Office, said he had been “working the tea rooms” in favour a new vote.
The co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on end of life choice said “the sentiment in parliament has moved significantly since 2015” and added: “We are getting towards a majority, yes when a vote was last held.”
No 10 said it would be up to parliament whether or not to again debate legalising assisted dying. Rishi Sunak’s spokesman said: “We recognise that this is a highly emotive issue, it is an area that is sensitive and important to many.”
“But the government position has not changed in that it is a matter of parliament to decide, an issue of conscience for individual parliamentarians rather than government policy – as it was in 2015 when the House considered it and rejected making any changes.”
Pressed on whether Mr Gove was speaking for the government in calling for a new debate, the No 10 official replied: “This is, as it always has been, a matter for individual MPs, who are able to express their views.”
