Broadcaster Dame Esther Rantzen has died at the age of 86, her family said in a statement.

The Childline founder passed away following a battle with cancer, first revealed in January 2023. 

Her relatives paid tribute to the ‘most wonderful mother’ and ‘cherished grandmother’ who will be remembered for her ‘endless capacity for joy’. 

Earlier this month, Dame Esther said it was too late for her to ‘buzz off’ to Dignitas as planned as she revealed her anguish over loved ones witnessing her suffering.

She said in a statement that despite having ‘spent the money and made the plans’ to go to Dignitas, she was now ‘too physically fragile to make the journey’.

The prominent campaigner for the legalisation of assisted dying insisted the law must ‘change and change quickly’, as she renewed her plea ahead of the latest debate and vote on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.

MPs will vote on what is known as Second Reading of the Bill, and if it passes it will continue its journey through Parliament for further consideration by MPs and peers in the House of Lords.

Broadcaster and campaigner Dame Esther Rantzen has died at the age of 86, her family said in a statement

It must pass both Houses to become law although supporters have suggested the Parliament Act – a rarely used piece of legislation which allows for Bills that have been backed by the Commons in two successive sessions but rejected by peers to pass into law without Lords approval – could be used to get the Bill through.

While the Bill passed two votes in the Commons in 2024 and 2025, it ran out of time in the Lords in April and has been reintroduced by Labour MP Lauren Edwards where it must begin the parliamentary process again.

Dame Esther said: ‘Everything I didn’t want to happen I’m having to go through now, which means that the people I love and care about either cannot visit me, or when they do, see me suffering pain or indignity which will inevitably get between them and our shared happy memories, and may even overwhelm the way they think of me.

‘Obviously, I would prefer that my end could be swift and painless and I could ask for help now I’m dying. But I can’t.

‘I knew it would be like this if I died in this country because the current criminal law preventing anyone to help me shorten my death is messy and cruel.’

Assisted suicide is banned in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with a maximum prison sentence of 14 years and while it is a specific criminal offence in Scotland, assisting the death of someone can leave a person open to being charged with murder or other offences.

Dame Esther said she would have had to travel to Dignitas alone, and before she became too ill.

She added: ‘Why did I not buzz off to Zurich as I had planned when my life became unbearable? Unfortunately, when I was strong enough to make the flight and go to Dignitas, my life was not unbearably painful, indeed I was able to relax in my beloved cottage in the New Forest.

‘And by the time life did become unbearable I was too physically fragile to make the journey and go through the Dignitas process.

‘So even though I had spent the money and made the plans I was not ready to end my life back then, and did not realise that would be my last chance. ‘

This is a breaking news story. More to follow.