Rantzen warns peers not to hamper progress of assisted dying law
The Terminally Ill Adults (End Of Life) Bill cleared the Commons with a majority of 23 votes on Friday, but opponents have vowed to continue their resistance in the unelected chamber.
The legislation could face a difficult passage through the Lords, with critics poised to table amendments to add further restrictions and safeguards to the Bill.
Dame Esther told BBC Radio 4's Today: 'I don't need to teach the House of Lords how to do their job. They know it very well, and they know that laws are produced by the elected chamber.
'Their job is to scrutinise, to ask questions, but not to oppose.
'So yes, people who are adamantly opposed to this bill, and they have a perfect right to oppose it, will try and stop it going through the Lords, but the Lords themselves, their duty is to make sure that law is actually created by the elected chamber, which is the House of Commons who have voted this through.'
Dame Esther, who turns 85 on Sunday and has terminal cancer, acknowledged the legislation would probably not become law in time for her to use it and she would have to 'buzz of to Zurich' to use the Dignitas clinic.
Paralympian and crossbench peer Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson told BBC Breakfast: 'We're getting ready for it to come to the Lord's and from my personal point of view, about amending it to make it stronger.
'We've been told it's the strongest Bill in the world, but to be honest, it's not very high bar for other legislation.
'So I do think there are a lot more safeguards that could be put in.'
Conservative peer and disability rights campaigner Lord Shinkwin said the narrow Commons majority underlined the need for peers to take a close look at the legislation.
He told Today 'I think the House of Lords has a duty to expose and to subject this Bill to forensic scrutiny' but 'I don't think it's a question of blocking it so much as performing our duty as a revising chamber'.
He added: 'The margin yesterday was so close that many MPs would appreciate the opportunity to look at this again in respect of safeguards as they relate to those who feel vulnerable, whether that's disabled people or older people.'
Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, who steered the Bill through the Commons, told the PA news agency she hoped peers would not seek to derail the legislation, which could run out of parliamentary time if it is held up in the Lords.
She said: 'I would be upset to think that anybody was playing games with such an important and such an emotional issue.'
A group of 27 Labour MPs who voted against the legislation said: 'We were elected to represent both of those groups and are still deeply concerned about the risks in this Bill of coercion of the old and discrimination against the disabled, people with anorexia and black, Asian and minority ethnic people, who we know do not receive equitable health care.
'As the Bill moves to the House of Lords it must receive the scrutiny that it needs. Not about the principles of assisted dying but its application in this deeply flawed Bill.'
Meanwhile, one of the leading opponents of the Bill, Conservative Danny Kruger, said 'these are apocalyptic times'.
In a series of tweets on Friday night, the East Wiltshire MP – who is at odds with his mother, Great British Bake Off judge Dame Prue Leith in her support for legalisation – accused assisted dying campaigners of being 'militant anti-Christians' who had failed to 'engage with the detail of the Bill'.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Times
39 minutes ago
- Times
BBC bosses back Martine Croxall over ‘pregnant people' correction
BBC bosses have backed a television presenter who corrected the phrase 'pregnant people' to 'women' while broadcasting live, in what has been welcomed as a rejection of gender-neutral language. Martine Croxall, 56, was citing a study about protecting vulnerable people in hot weather and, after reading out the report's phrasing, immediately rolled her eyes and changed the wording to 'women'. 'Malcolm Mistry, who was involved in the research, says that the aged, pregnant people … women … and those with pre-existing health conditions need to take precautions,' she said. JK Rowling was among those to support the presenter, calling Croxall 'her new favourite BBC presenter' on X, and the former Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova also backed her. Croxall added: 'A huge thank you to everyone who has chosen to follow me today for whatever reason. It's been quite a ride.' She has gained almost 50,000 followers on the social media platform since the incident on Sunday afternoon. BBC bosses are also understood to have been 'intensely relaxed' about the wording amid concerns from some staff that Croxall may have faced disciplinary action. Last year Justin Webb, a presenter of Today on Radio 4, was found to have partially breached BBC guidelines over the way in which he described a transgender woman in a debate about chess. Justin Webb was sanctioned by the BBC over an incident on Today on Radio 4 BBC Webb was told that he was at fault for describing the transgender woman as 'in other words, male' during a debate in August 2023 about guidelines issued by the international chess federation about whether men have an advantage in the game. • BBC calls in expert over breakfast show 'bullying' row But the BBC's position appears to have shifted since Webb was sanctioned. Following Sunday's broadcast, bosses are understood to have checked in with Croxall in a supportive way. 'It's a real cultural moment,' said one fellow BBC presenter, who said that there is a groundswell of support internally for using 'honest language'. Samir Shah is chairman of the BBC MICHAEL LECKIE FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES CULTURE They are said to have the support of Samir Shah, the BBC chairman. He is thought to have been dismayed by the ruling surrounding the Today incident, which took place several months before he joined the corporation. The shift is said to have been underpinned by the Supreme Court ruling in April, which found that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex. In a statement at the time, the BBC said that it was assessing how to implement the ruling into its editorial guidelines. 'In our news reporting, we always aim to deal with issues fairly and impartially, and this is informed by our editorial guidelines,' a spokesman said. 'BBC News is assessing the ruling to consider any updates which might need to be made to the style guide as a result.' The BBC News style guide encourages 'appropriate language' when reporting on a person's gender, including using whichever gender pronouns are 'preferred by the person in question, unless there are editorial reasons not to do so'.
Evening Standard
39 minutes ago
- Evening Standard
Esther Rantzen speaks of ‘enormous relief' after MPs backed assisted dying Bill
Last week, Dame Esther told BBC Radio 4's Today: 'People who are adamantly opposed to this Bill, and they have a perfect right to oppose it, will try and stop it going through the Lords, but the Lords themselves, their duty is to make sure that law is actually created by the elected chamber, which is the House of Commons, who have voted this through.'
Daily Mail
42 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Never here Keir! Starmer won't come to the Commons to field questions on Iran crisis and will miss PMQs AGAIN this week... after dodging grilling on grooming gangs
Keir Starmer will not field questions from MPs on the Iran crisis today amid criticism that he is dodging scrutiny. The PM is sending Foreign Secretary David Lammy to deliver a Commons statement on the burgeoning crisis in the Middle East this afternoon. Mr Lammy will come under huge pressure to justify the UK's position of refusing to say whether or not it backs US strikes on Iran's nuclear sites. Sir Keir, who is meeting Volodymyr Zelensky this afternoon, is expected to take Cabinet but not be in the House tomorrow. He will miss PMQs for the second week running on Wednesday as he is due at the Nato summit in The Hague. By Thursday, when he is due to make an appearance, the premier will not have spoken in the chamber for more than two weeks. Sir Keir has still not updated the elected chamber on the G7 summit in Canada last week - something that by convention happens as soon as possible. Sir Keir is under huge pressure to justify the UK's position of refusing to say whether or not it backs Donald Trump's strikes on Iran nuclear sites He was previously criticised for delaying his return from that gathering to dodge a grilling on grooming gangs. The summit wrapped up on Tuesday night, but Angela Rayner stood in at the weekly PMQs session the following lunchtime. The bombshell report by Baroness Casey condemning institutions for ignoring ethnic factors in sexual abuse of children dominated clashes in the House. Sir Keir had chosen to announced his extraordinary U-turn to back a statutory national inquiry into the scandal as he left the country for Canada the weekend before. The PM had spent months resisting demands from Opposition politicians and campaigners to trigger a new probe. But he shifted his position after reading the damning conclusions of Lady Casey's rapid review. Sir Keir was in Alberta when Home Secretary Yvette Cooper made an apology to victims on behalf of the state, and published the Whitehall troubleshooter's report. Although he faced questions from the media at the G7 - which has been dominated by the Israel-Iran crisis - Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said Sir Keir 'should have been in the chamber this week talking about this issue'. Ms Rayner will again fill in for Sir Keir in the chamber this Wednesday. Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said: 'The Prime Minister has not even spoken once in the Commons since this crisis began.
