Holyrood set for knife-edge vote on whether to legalise assisted dying
The Scottish Parliament prepares for a historic vote which could see it become the first UK nation to legalise assisted dying, as ITV News UK Editor Paul Brand reports from Edinburgh
MSPs in Scotland are set to decide whether to legalise assisted dying on Tuesday, in a historic knife-edge vote.
Liam McArthur, who tabled the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill, has made last-minute pleas to MSPs to pass the legislation.
He has insisted the proposals would be "the toughest and most comprehensively safeguarded assisted dying Bill in the world".
The Bill will go through its stage three vote in the Scottish Parliament at about 10 pm on Tuesday.
A close result is expected. All MSPs are being given a free vote rather than being whipped along party lines.
As supporters of assisted dying gathered in the morning, McArthur said that voting down the Bill would leave terminally ill Scots "more at risk, more isolated and more vulnerable".
He told the Press Association: "I just hope my MSP colleagues grasp this opportunity to address a failing in the current law – the ban on assisted dying, which is leaving a small but not insignificant number of dying Scots and their families horrendous decisions".
Some MSPs are still uncertain about how they will vote on Tuesday evening, he said.
Opponents of the legislation, who fear the impact of assisted dying on the disabled and other vulnerable groups, will also be gathering outside the Scottish Parliament in advance of the vote.
The vote comes after the Isle of Man and Jersey have already passed legislation to legalise assisted dying.
In Wales, the Senedd backed a Legislative Consent Motion (LCM), which means the service could one day be made available on the NHS in Wales.
However, the decision to change the law on assisted dying in Wales still remains in Westminster.
Meanwhile, more than 100 Labour MPs have written to the prime minister asking him to stop peers from purposefully blocking the passage of the assisted dying Bill.
In total, over 150 MPs have signed the private letter addressed to Starmer, including parliamentarians from the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Greens, Plaid Cymru, and Reform UK.
They have raised concerns about the slow progress of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill through the House of Lords, with only half of the 1,200 amendments up for consideration having been debated after 11 days of scrutiny.
Last week, MSPs made changes to the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill in four lengthy sessions at Holyrood, with a total of 175 changes to the legislation agreed.
McArthur's proposals would allow Scots to legally seek help to end their life, with the Bill requiring two doctors to confirm that a person is terminally ill and has the mental capacity to make such a request.
Meanwhile, a change introduced last week would mean that people should be “reasonably expected” to have six months to live or less before they would be eligible for an assisted death.
This is the third time MSPs have considered legislation on assisted dying, with two previous attempts having failed at their first vote.
Groups in the medical profession, including the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCS) and Royal Pharmaceutical Society, have made clear their opposition to the Bill.
Earlier, Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes urged MSPs to consider their views.
Forbes said: "I will vote against Assisted Dying because the Bill is now riskier and less safe after MSPs rejected critical safeguards and outsourced essential protections for doctors to the UK government.
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"Doctors, psychiatrists, pharmacists and palliative care specialists – the people who would be tasked with implementing this – are asking us not to do it.
"These are the people on the front line of compassion in Scotland, the people who have dedicated their lives and careers to helping people in life and in death. They think this Bill is unsafe."
Dr Gordon Macdonald, chief executive of campaign group Care Not Killing, insisted such legislation "offers a vision of the future which has no place in a caring Scottish society".
He added: "Parliament’s first responsibility is to protect its most vulnerable citizens from exploitation and abuse by those who may have a financial or emotional interest in their deaths".
However, Emma Cooper, convener of campaign group, Friends at the End (Fate), said: "The vast majority of people in every single constituency across Scotland are asking for assisted dying to be made available to those who are mentally competent and in the last six months of their life.
"We cannot deny those who are going to die the right to choose. It is simply a misconception that pain relief can alleviate the suffering of all conditions at the end of life."
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