Esther: 200k who signed our assisted dying petition must now be listened to...

THE daughter of battling Dame Esther Rantzen knocked on the door of 10 Downing Street yesterday carrying the wishes of more than 200,000 people who have signed our assisted dying petition.

- Hanna Geissler

Rebecca Wilcox handed over a box containing a letter for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and thousands of coupons filled in by Daily Express readers who support Childline founder Dame Esther's call for a law change.

Broadcaster Rebecca, 44, said Dame Esther, who has stage four lung cancer, was "wishing us luck from 100 miles away".

In a rallying cry, she declared: "I feel that my Mum is with us but I completely understand why she can't be here and instead is at home in her beautiful spring garden.

"We are here to stand on the Prime Minister's doorstep and show what the majority of people in this country want.

"We are not going to shut up about this any time soon." The Daily Express Give Us Our Last Rights crusade calls for assisted dying to be legalised for terminally ill adults who are of sound mind and have been given fewer than six months to live.

The petition was launched in January after veteran TV presenter Dame Esther, 83, revealed she had decided to register with the Swiss clinic Dignitas.

Reigniting the national debate about end-of-life choices, Esther said she did not want painful memories of her final weeks and days to "obliterate all the happy times" for her loved ones. She explained that, as the law stands, choosing to die at Dignitas would put "my family and friends in a difficult position because they would want to go with me, and that means that the police might prosecute them".

The petition, started by this newspaper and backed by the Dignity in Dying campaign, is urging the Government to allow MPs a free vote on assisted death.