Esther Rantzen hails Commons passage of ‘rigorous and safe’ assisted dying bill | Assisted dying

The assisted dying bill, if it becomes law, will remove the burden of seeing a loved one die in pain, the campaigner Esther Rantzen has said, insisting its backers have got right the balance between helping those who ask for it and protecting vulnerable people.

The terminally ill adults (end of life) bill cleared the Commons with a majority of 23 votes on Friday, but must yet be debated by the Lords before returning to the Commons for consideration of any amendments they may make.

Rantzen said on Saturday: “I think people misunderstand when somebody says: ‘One of the reasons I wanted assisted dying was I didn’t want to be a burden’. Well, that’s how I feel, in the sense that, if I die in agony, that memory…