Michael Gove backs Esther Rantzen's call for Commons vote on assisted dying

19 December 2023 , 14:35

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Michael Gove said Parliament should return to the idea of assisted dying (Image: PA)

Michael Gove has said Parliament should hold a fresh vote on assisted dying following Dame Esther Rantzen's call for a free vote on allowing terminally ill people to die with dignity.

The Levelling Up Secretary said he was "not yet persuaded" of the case for assisted dying but said he would listen to representations from others on whether the law needed to change. And he said it would be "appropriate" for the Commons to look at it again.

It comes after TV veteran Dame Esther said she was considering ending her life at the Swiss clinic Dignitas if her treatment for stage four lung cancer fails to work. She told the BBC's Today podcast: "I thought, well, if the next scan says nothing’s working I might buzz off to Zurich but it puts my family and friends in a difficult position as they would want to go with me. The police might prosecute them.

Dame Esther Rantzen says she wants to spare her family the pain of watching her suffer (PA)

"My family say it’s my choice. I explained to them that I don’t want their last memories of me to be painful. If you watch someone you love having a bad death, that memory obliterates all the happy times." She also called for MPs to get a free vote on the issue, saying: "It’s important the law catches up with what the country wants."

Assisted dying is illegal in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and carries a maximum prison sentence of 14 years. MPs overwhelmingly voted against changing the law to let doctors help terminally ill people end their lives in 2015.

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Asked if he supported Dame Esther's calls for a free vote in Parliament, Mr Gove said: "I have great respect and affection for Dame Esther. I take a slightly different view. I am not yet persuaded of the case for assisted dying but I do think it's appropriate for the Commons to revisit this. I think it was in the last Parliament that we had a debate on it and as I say, I am not yet persuaded but I would want to listen with humility to Dame Esther and others outline the case."

Downing Street said decisions on assisted dying were a matter for Parliament, rather than the Government. The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "The position of the Government has not changed. It is a matter for Parliament to decide. It's an issue of conscience for individual parliamentarians. MPs, I believe, last had the opportunity to vote in 2015 when they rejected making any change in the law. It will be for Parliament to decide on any future debate."

MPs on the Health and Social Care Committee are due to publish a report into assisted dying and assisted suicide in England and Wales after a year-long inquiry.

Lizzy Buchan