Esther Rantzen's furious letter to Wes Streeting - 'What kind of health minister are you?'

"Deeply disappointed" Esther Rantzen has penned a furious letter to the Health Secretary after he said he would vote against the assisted dying Bill.

The Childline founder, who has stage four lung cancer, questioned how Wes Streeting could support the current law which "will force me to fly to Dignitas in Zurich to die alone".

Mr Streeting voted in favour of a 2015 Bill that aimed to allow terminally ill people who are nearing death to request medical help to die. But he told backbench MPs on Monday that he will vote against a similar proposal when it reaches the Commons next month.

The Health Secretary said he had changed his mind due to concerns that palliative care is not good enough in this country, and this could lead to people ending their lives prematurely.

Writing in the Express today, Dame Esther, 84, said the MP for Ilford North should know that even the best palliative care cannot always prevent suffering.

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She questioned how he could be comfortable with the status quo, which is leaving families traumatised by bad deaths and denying people the choice to shorten their pain.

And she highlighted the views of four previous Directors of Public Prosecutions, including Sir Keir Starmer, who have spoken out about problems with the current law.

The veteran broadcaster ended her message by asking Mr Streeting: "What kind of health Minister are you, if you have no respect or understanding for the views of terminally ill patients?"

The Government will remain neutral on Kim Leadbeater's Private Member's Bill when it faces a second reading on November 29, and MPs will be given a free vote.

Cabinet ministers have therefore been instructed not to take part in public debate. Mr Streeting did not declare his voting intentions publicly but made the comments in a private meeting which was leaked. Dame Esther said she was "very distressed" by the minister's actions.

Speaking to a newspaper this week, the Health Secretary explained that he worried "about coercion and the risk that the right to die feels like a duty to die".

He said: "I have in my mind's eye one of my grandmothers who died a very slow painful death, an inevitable death, from lung cancer.

"There are moments thinking back to that time through my 10-year-old eyes even then I would have wished for the pain to end sooner.

"The challenge is, I do not think palliative care, end of life care, in this country is good enough to give people a real choice."

Mr Streeting was the second cabinet minister in two days to reveal their intention to vote against changing the law, after Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood told of her "unshakeable belief in the sanctity and the value of human life".

Sarah Wootton, chief executive of Dignity in Dying, warned that blocking law change on assisted dying "will not fix palliative care".

She said: "Even with the very best care, thousands of people every year die in completely unrelieved pain.

"This is a reality acknowledged by even those most opposed to law change and recognised by the findings of the cross-party Health Select Committee inquiry into assisted dying.

"Their report also found that palliative care often improves after law change, and that even after decades, laws for terminally ill people have not been expanded or repealed."

Ms Wootton also pointed to polling which consistently finds that around three quarters of the British public would support the legalisation of assisted dying for terminally ill people.

She added: "That is because they have seen - many firsthand - that the status quo does not work for terminally ill people and their families.

"The ban on assisted dying is more than six decades old; we need legislation fit for how we live and die now.

"Blocking this Bill will not resolve the problems with the status quo, but it will stop us giving dying people the choice and protection they want and need.

"Former Directors of Public Prosecution, our current Prime Minister included, agree it is now down to Parliament to act."

The introduction of the latest Private Member's Bill by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater has sparked a fresh public debate about assisted dying.

The Spen Valley MP has called for a "robust and compassionate" debate about the topic when it reaches the Commons next month.

Opponents including the Archbishop of Canterbury have claimed that a change in the law could put vulnerable people at risk.

Ms Leadbeater also penned a letter to the Archbishop last week to challenge his position, arguing that her Bill "is about respecting how all individuals want to live and die".

She added: "I have had the privilege of speaking to many Christian who value their faith but also desperately want the law to change."

The Daily Express Give Us Our Last Rights crusade is backing efforts to change the law and give those who are terminally ill greater choice.

Dame Esther has appealed to Express readers to join the fight by writing to their MPs about the issue and sharing personal experiences.

In a heartfelt message last week, she said: "Once again I am asking for your help. I am writing to my MP... and explaining why I believe they need to vote yes.

"Please could you write to yours, and explain why a vote to change the current, cruel law is so crucial, and if you have personal stories, include them. Please explain that for some of us, time is running out."

Dear Mr Streeting,

I am very distressed that as a Minister, ignoring the government's request to stay neutral, you have said you will vote against changing the current criminal law of assisted dying.

Perhaps you have never had to watch someone you love beg for help to die when their lives have become unbearable. But as Health Secretary you must know, or at least you should, that even the best palliative care cannot always protect patients from dying in agony, and their families and doctors watching helplessly.

So are you really comfortable with the current law that imposes this terrible memory? Prevents patients from choosing to shorten their own deaths? Will force me to fly to Dignitas in Zurich to die alone, to avoid my loved ones being accused of pressurising me when they are only motivated by love and compassion?

Does it not influence you in any way that four previous DPPs including your boss, the Prime Minister, believe that the current criminal law is such a cruel mess it must be changed?

Or that the majority of the public believe that assisted dying in the last days of life should be a matter of personal choice? What kind of health Minister are you, if you have no respect or understanding for the views of terminally ill patients?

Yours, deeply disappointed,
Esther Rantzen