her mum, dame esther rantzen, has stage four lung cancer. urging mps to support the bill. dame esther, what is your reaction to the result of the vote in the house of commons? well, i'm very relieved. i wonder how i would be feeling if the bill had not got any further, and i think it would have been a profound disappointment, not for me, but for all those people who've been so brave, so hard—working, so compassionate to try and get the current mess of a law changed. the ayes have it. the ayes have it, unlock. actor liz carr had been campaigning against the bill. it does feel frightening. it does. i'm quite shattered and, um, gutted. it feels irresponsible by parliament. there's a lot of people who really feel quite frightened now that we've lost, you know, this beginning of a vote. chanting: not to die! assistance to live! - we just don't see that the safeguards will protect us. we also look at all the other countries where this has been brought in. it's always, to varying degrees, been extended. and in the majority it's been extended. orfro

we have got more from dame esther rantzen and from liz carr for the other side. very much. now a look at the rest of the day's news. polls havejust closed in ireland's general election and the main three parties — fianna fail, fine gael and sein fein — are neck and neck with just a couple of percentage points between them in terms of first preference votes. chris page is in dublin for us. chris, bring us right up to date. well, the general election count begins at nine in the morning, and the exit poll suggests it will be tight, tense and very unpredictable. the poll indicates that sinn fein has a very narrow lead in the race for first preference votes, but it is very close indeed between the three main parties led by the three contenders to be the taoiseach. they are simon harris of fine gael who has been on the job forjust seven months, his main coalition partner micheal martin who was also taoiseach earlier in the coalition government's turn and mary lou mcdonald, sinn fein president, and her party has been the main opposition group in the irish parliament sin

before we came on air, i spoke to dame esther rantzen who has been at the forefront of the campaign fort think she would live long enough to see. well, it was extremely impressive. the house was full to the brim, which i gather is quite unusual for private members' bills, and the speeches were respectful and passionate and clearly deeply felt, and lots of contributions from people's constituents who told them stories from their own lives and the deaths of people they loved. and the vote when it came was out of the blue. i mean, i was astonished, because everything seemed in the balance up to then. and as it turned out, there was a majority in favour of the bill. so in some respects, then, it is a bittersweet moment, because i know you've talked about going to switzerland, to dignitas. will it not benefit you at all? because i know you've spoken in one interview today about maybe taking the family. well, that is the thing. it occurs to me thatjust possibly this big majority in the house of commons and the fact that the committee report will be happening, it might mean that i can say to m

dame esther _ for you. as you may or may not know my mother, dame esther rantzen i for you. me esther rantzen has terminal lung cancer. we don't know how long _ terminal lung cancer. we don't know how long she has left. i hope a really— how long she has left. i hope a really long time, at the moment she is undergoing chemo, but she honestly— is undergoing chemo, but she honestly don't know is when the drug will stop— honestly don't know is when the drug will stop working. but when it does not working we don't know what the progression will be like for her. we only know— progression will be like for her. we only know that death from cancer can be only know that death from cancer can he awful _ only know that death from cancer can be awful. and there are some kinds of cancer— be awful. and there are some kinds of cancer that all palliative care experts — of cancer that all palliative care experts agree cannot be treated just with palliative care alone, and that the pain— with palliative care alone, and that the pain is— with palliative care alone, and that the pain is surpassin

well, rebecca wilcox, the daughter of campaigner and broadcaster dame esther rantzen, who herself is terminally ill, has been urging mps to rethink their choice. take a listen. >> we're a nation of compassionate, kind people and this bill has compassion and empathy and safeguards as its cornerstones. it couldn't be more carefully set out to protect the vulnerable, to protect the vulnerable, to protect those of reduced capacity, but most importantly, to give people choice at the end so they don't have to have a death that leaves their family traumatised and makes them worry for the rest of their lives, however long it is. >> well, as we've heard in the last few minutes, downing street has announced that heidi alexander is the new transport secretary. that follows the resignation of louise hay, the mp for swindon south had been serving as a justice minister until her promotion today and worked as sadiq khan's deputy transport mayor between 2018 and 21, while louise hay's cabinet resignation that sir keir starmer's first since his election victory came after it emerged last night that s

i want to just read for viewers comments from dame esther rantzen who has been a realforce for tryingislation in front of mps for a vote. of course she talked before the election to say keir starmer. she has described kim leadbetter�*s introduction of the bill as extraordinary. she has a complete mastery of the fact, she knows what are the most crucial facts. she put it all clearly, taking interventions all the way through that debate. i was lost in admiration. she is an extraordinary person. i was also really moved by the various doctors who took part who gave painful but important descriptions of the kind of deaths people suffer which cannot be easily even with the best of palliative care, and i'm sure those interventions were important. keir starmer had promised her personally that he would put forward legislation like this?— legislation like this? well that he would allow _ legislation like this? well that he would allow it _ legislation like this? well that he would allow it to _ legislation like this? well that he would allow it to happen - legislation like this? well that i he