'TIME IS RUNNING OUT...I NEED YOUR HELP TO CHANGE CRUEL LAW'

ESTHER Rantzen has appealed for people to urge their MP to back the assisted dying Bill which reaches Parliament today.

- Hanna Geissler

The TV legend says she "can dare to hope" for a change in the law but warns: "Time is running out." Dame Esther, who has stage four lung cancer, wants voters to write to their MP to show the strength of support for a change in a "cruel law".

It is currently illegal for the terminally ill to receive help with dying. The 84-year-old 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." Labour MP Kim Leadbeater's Private Member's Bill is due to have its first reading today in its formal introduction to Parliament.

Her proposal, to legalise assisted dying only for terminally ill adults near the end of life, will face a second reading in the Commons on November 29 - when MPs are expected to be given a free vote.

The Spen Valley MP stressed the importance of personal stories after she met families who have campaigned for reform for years.

Many shared their heartbreaking experiences in a session with MPs last week, including tales of loved ones who died in agony, took their own lives when the pain became unbearable or travelled to Swiss assisted suicide clinic Dignitas.

Ms Leadbeater said: "It has been very intense but the voices of the families who have lived experience of how the current law is not fit for purpose, those are the voices that need to be heard. Those are the voices that I will carry with me.