Dame Esther Rantzen’s plea for an assisted dying Bill to be introduced in the House of Commons will be answered, after a Labour MP vowed to take up the cause.
Jake Richards, the representative for Rother Valley, was drawn 11th out of 20 on Thursday in the Private Member’s Bill ballot which allows backbenchers to propose laws.
He told the Daily Express he would take forward an assisted dying Bill if no other MP drawn ahead of him did so, saying: “I don’t know Esther Rantzen but I’m happy to answer her call.
“If it’s me, I’m really keen to progress it and I’d like Esther to be there if possible, helping out along the way.”
Former barrister Mr Richards is one of the cohort of new MPs elected for the first time in July. Just weeks into his role, the ballot means he may play a crucial role in ending campaigners’ decades-long battle for more compassionate options at the end of life.
READ MORE: Please give the terminally ill assisted dying hope, says Dame Esther Rantzen
Mr Richards previously worked with Lord Charlie Falconer, a Labour peer who has led multiple attempts to legalise assisted dying via Private Member’s Bills, including one which is due for a second reading in November.
This experience, along with seeing his grandmother suffer an “unnecessarily difficult” death, led Mr Richards to grapple with the issue of assisted dying.
“When I was asked about the one thing I’d want to change if I became an MP, this was it,” the backbencher said. “To get picked in my first Private Member’s Ballot is brilliant and exciting. There was no other issue that even crossed my mind as my first choice.
“It may be that someone ahead of me [chooses to introduce an assisted dying Bill], so I don’t know whether I will be the person bringing forward the legislation. But I hope to be because it’s something that is very close to my heart.”
Mr Richards favours “very modest” legislation which would permit assisted dying for terminally ill people who are expected to die within six months – the same change that the Express Give Us Our Last Rights crusade has backed for more than two years.
And the MP said he hoped his legal background would reassure colleagues that his Bill will include the necessary safeguards to ensure no one feels pressured into ending their life.
He added: “At the heart is the unfairness that at the moment, we know that some people are assisted in dying. I don’t just mean those who are able to afford to go to Dignitas.
“Even within how they’re treated, there are means and ways in which medical professionals do assist in careful ways. I think we have to have a legal framework for it.”
Private Member’s Bills often run out of time before the parliamentary session ends and Mr Richards’ position as 11th in the draw means this may be a challenge.
However, the Prime Minister has promised to ensure that any Bill which gains traction in Parliament has time to be fully debated.
Mr Richards said: “This is a really important moment because it’s the first time for a long time where we have a Prime Minister who has guaranteed time, and is himself in favour.
“He has made it clear that his Government will go out of its way to give this issue time. If that means giving me, as number 11, the opportunity to bring the Bill, then I would hope and expect him to do so.
“I don’t think there are any excuses now – this issue must be heard.”
Asked whether he believed such a Bill would pass if it faced a free vote, Mr Richards said assisted dying campaigners should be “quietly optimistic”.
He added: “We still have to make the case and that’s what I’m going to do in Parliament, whether I am the drafter of the Bill or not.”
Fifteen Labour MPs, four Liberal Democrats and one from the Trade Unionist Voice party were selected in the ballot.
If none of those drawn ahead of him choose to introduce an assisted dying Bill, Mr Richards will introduce his Bill to the Commons on Wednesday October 16.