MP: I will bring assisted dying Bill before House

DAME Esther Rantzen's plea for an assisted dying Bill to be introduced in the Commons will be answered after a Labour MP took up the cause.

- Hanna Geissler

Jake Richards, who represents Rother Valley, was drawn 11th out of 20 yesterday in the Private Member's Bill ballot, which allows backbenchers to propose new laws.

He told the Daily Express he would take forward an assisted dying Bill if no other MP drawn ahead of him does so, pledging: "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.

But the ballot means he may play a crucial role in ending campaigners' decades-long battle for more compassionate options at the end of life.

He 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, means Mr Richards understands the issue well.