Scottish parliament votes against legalising assisted dying | Assisted dying

The Scottish parliament has voted against legalizing assisted dying after critics and religious groups launched a joint campaign to block the measures.

MSPs voted 69-57 to reject the proposals in a late-night vote on Tuesday; This was a larger-than-expected margin despite a series of last-minute changes designed to appease critics of the private member’s bill.

The bill’s defeat follows four days of intense debate at Holyrood last week over whether disabled and vulnerable people are appropriately protected from oppression. In May last year, Holyrood voted to put the bill under review by 70 votes to 56.

The biggest concession was last week when Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur agreed to limit access for people judged to have six months to live, despite previously arguing the time limit was too arbitrary in a bid to appease hesitant MSPs.

Speaking in the final debate on Thursday evening, McArthur said rejecting his bill would increase the number of people in excruciating pain and those traveling abroad to access assisted dying clinics and called on MSPs to support it.

Describing the “no” vote as “inexcusable”, McArthur said the no campaign was not motivated by unfounded fears voiced by those opposing the bill due to conscientious objection, lack of compensation provisions and robust education provisions. “This bill is tightly crafted, heavily protected and legally defensible,” he said.

Defeat of this bill will “leave growing numbers of dying Scots more at risk, isolated and vulnerable. This problem will not go away, but by refusing to seize this opportunity parliament will force people to travel abroad, make decisions behind closed doors with no reassurance, no protection, no support, or condemn them to suffering.”

The parallel bill for England and Wales, which was passed by a majority of MPs in the House of Commons last year, is now expected to fall due to concerted opposition in the House of Lords, where more than a thousand amendments have been tabled and prompted accusations of fraud from peers.

This will mean that no part of the UK will have the right to assist in dying for the foreseeable future, despite its widespread popularity with voters, its growth in other rich countries including the US and Australia, and recent legalization votes in Jersey and the Isle of Man.

Sandesh Gulhane, the Scottish Conservative MSP and the only GP at Holyrood who also chairs the bill’s medical advisory group, said he supported the bill because it was “a good bill, a solid bill”, as did 81% of Scottish voters.

“Choice is important,” he said. “This bill represents years of work, consultation and scrutiny. It offers compassion, reassurance and dignity to those facing the end of life. If it were to pass today, [it] “It will be a lost opportunity to help those who are suffering and dying, those who have no voice.”

A large number of MSPs spoke against the bill during a long and passionate debate; These included SNP MSP Jamie Hepburn, who said she changed her mind because it changed the patient-doctor relationship. Scottish Tory MP Brian Whittle said he believed cuts to social services made it unsafe to support the bill.

Scottish Conservative MSP Edward Mountain said the measure would mean doctors would have the power to recommend death to people. “Care pathways are rightly top priorities, but this bill will now give doctors the right to say death is possible in terminal situations. I believe the last thing we should be doing is suggesting that ending life is a form of treatment,” he said.

Jeremy Balfour, an independent MSP and one of two disabled MSPs campaigning against the bill, said disabled Scots would be “appalled” listening to the debate. “The protections in this bill are not good enough. They can never be good enough.”

But SNP supporter George Adam said his wife Stacey, watching in a wheelchair in the public gallery, had multiple sclerosis and wanted the right to die. “If the worst had happened to him, if he had been faced with that unbearable pain at the end of his life, he would have wanted to make a choice,” he said.

Although the Scottish government is officially neutral, first minister and SNP leader John Swinney made clear last year that he was opposed to the legislation and would vote against it, as would former first minister Nicola Sturgeon and Scottish Labor leader Anas Sarwar.

The 175 changes agreed by MSPs last week included controversial decisions to remove provisions giving Scottish ministers the power to regulate the training and qualifications of medical staff involved in assisted dying; because these powers belonged to the UK government and Westminster.

The royal medical colleges said these safeguards should be included in the bill at this stage and rejected written assurances from UK ministers that Westminster would devolve these powers to Holyrood without any attempt to dilute them.

Scottish health secretary Tom Arthur told MSPs that the Scottish and UK governments had engaged in “timely, constructive and good faith” discussions to ensure the necessary powers were given to Holyrood.

Scottish Greens MSP and former co-leader of the party, Patrick Harvie, said the bill had built-in safeguards because it could not become law until the Scottish parliament agreed that the education and qualifications powers provided by Westminster were correct.

The UK and Scottish governments, which are officially neutral on the proposals, passed the section 30 ruling earlier this year giving Scotland the power to use legally restricted medicines and equipment normally controlled by Westminster. These powers came into force on March 11.

SNP chief executive Rona Mackay called on MSPs to support the bill. “We have a choice in this room. Terminally ill patients who are afraid of what they will face at the end of their lives cannot do this. Who are we to deprive them of that choice,” he said.

“We know that many terminally ill Scots face a terrible death and are forced to consider a series of desperate, traumatic decisions. Decisions that do not belong in a compassionate 21st century Scotland.”