Celebrities to gather in Westminster as MPs debate assisted dying today after cancer-stricken Dame Esther Rantzen’s campaign [Video]

02:04 EDT 29 Apr 2024, updated 03:40 EDT 29 Apr 2024

Celebrities and campaigners will gather in Westminster today ahead of a debate on assisted dying, after cancer-stricken Dame Esther Rantzen backed the campaign.

Broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby, Dame Susan Hampshire and long-time campaigner Peter Tatchell are expected to be among the high-profile figures gathered.

Pro-change campaign group My Death, My Decision described it as a ‘significant moment in the campaign for a compassionate assisted dying law’.

It comes after a petition for a debate gained more than 200,000 signatures and was promoted by Dame Esther, who has stage four lung cancer and has signed up for the Dignitas assisting dying clinic in Switzerland.

The Childline founder, 83, previously led a chorus of dismay after a report by MPs into assisted dying failed to deliver any clear-cut findings or proposals — and called for a free vote into the issue.

Speaking to ITVNews Dame Esther said: ‘I had three deaths …