Dame Esther Rantzen said it was a “tragic day” after MPs rejected the assisted dying bill.
The vocal proponent of a law change, speaking to the BBC via her daughter’s phone outside Parliament, said: “I’m so sad that people in this country won’t have the choice so many terminally ill adults in other countries have of shortening their own deaths by asking for help.
“I am sure a change in the law will come. I am deeply sad that it won’t come soon enough for many of the people who need it.”
Ms Rantzen’s daughter, Rebecca Wilcox, said she was devastated by the vote, but would continue not stop campaigning.
She told the broadcaster: “I don’t think it’s a vandalism of democracy, I think it’s a demolition of democracy.”
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