Jersey's politicians will give my late husband the best birthday present of all... the gift of choice

DAME Esther Rantzen says her late husband Desmond will get the best birthday present of all as Jersey votes to approve assisted dying.

- Giles Sheldrick

The cancer-stricken campaigner believes the partner she calls "My Desi", a TV producer and filmmaker who died in 2000, would have welcomed the gift of choice.

Dame Esther, 83, said: "I wish he were alive today to see that the beautiful island of Jersey has given him the best present of all, the one he would have valued the most."

In 2021, the Channel Island's States Assembly was the first British parliament to rule assisted dying should be allowed "in principle". That decision is formally ratified today, with politicians deciding how a new law should be implemented and who it restricts.

Courage