ESTHER: I FEEL LET DOWN BY MPS SITTING ON THE FENCE

DAME Esther Rantzen is demanding that MPs get off the fence over assisted dying after a major inquiry failed to that the call for urgent action.

- Giles Sheldrick and Hanna Geissler

The campaigner, 83, said she was "disappointed and disheartened" Commons health committee did not recommend a debate despite members hearing compelling evidence of the need for a change in the law.

She said: "I am very disheartened indeed there is no recommendation that there is an urgent need for the law to be changed, because it puts loving families at risk.

"And therefore there must be a debate in Parliament, followed by a free vote as soon as possible. It's as if, because this is an emotional subject, they are frightened to recommend that Parliament should talk about it." Childline founder Dame Esther is spearheading the UK campaign to legalise assisted dying after being diagnosed with stage four lung cancer in January last year.

A Daily Express petition, backed by the TV presenter and campaign group Dignity in Dying, has gathered more than 130,000 signatures in a clear display of overwhelming public support.

The inquiry was conducted by 11 cross-party MPs. It received more than 68,000 public responses and almost 400 written submissions after launching in December 2022.

Among them was a powerful account from cancer patient David Minns, who launched the Daily Express's Give Us Our Last Rights crusade two years ago.

A report on the year-long examination published today noted that independent polls have shown up to 80% of people are in favour of permitting assisted dying.

It described how medicine cannot relieve all pain and how the current law is unclear, leaving terminally ill people and their families in turmoil.