Meeting of the Parliament 13 May 2025
This is, without doubt, the most difficult and sensitive debate before the Parliament in the current parliamentary session. I pay tribute to Liam McArthur, because his handling of the bill, the respectful debate and the seriousness of his approach have been exemplary. We could not have picked a better advocate for trying to bring about such a fundamental societal change.
I did not support the first two bills that came before Parliament, which were proposed by Margo MacDonald and Patrick Harvie. In my view, they were too wide in scope, but this bill is more focused and therefore it deserves fresh consideration.
I am grateful to the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee for its report and to all the organisations that provided briefings, because they were helpful when we were assessing the various arguments. Like most members, I have been inundated with emails, right up until minutes before the debate, from hundreds of constituents—some have emailed more than once—from many medical professionals including those who are for and those who are against, and from organisations that are in many cases neutral but wanted to share their concerns about the gaps in the bill and the need for further safeguards.
Then there were the very personal stories of constituents. Michelle Moffat from Dumbarton, a former intensive care unit nurse at the Golden Jubilee hospital, booked an assisted suicide at a Dignitas clinic but later cancelled it. Now, six years later, she is in a wheelchair, but she lives a full life, surrounded by family and friends. There is the emotional story of Julia from Cardross, who experienced the trauma of her husband trying to commit suicide on a number of occasions before finally succeeding, because he could not bear living any longer. There are the views of Jim Elder Woodward, who is disabled and concerned about the implications of the bill for disabled people. All those stories weigh heavily on our decision making.
I understand people wanting choice and dignity and agency in their death, but I worry about the safeguards. I do not want anyone to be coerced into taking their own life. I do not want anyone to believe that they might be a burden to their family and feel a misplaced sense of duty to end their life prematurely.
I worry that the medical profession is so divided and about the practical implications for the NHS—whether medical professionals can opt out or whether training will be given to those who administer end-of-life medication. I have no sense yet from the Scottish Government whether that training can practically be delivered or of the cost of that to the NHS.
Too much has not yet been scrutinised. I appreciate Liam McArthur’s willingness to consider stage 2 amendments, but there is a lot to be changed that will not receive the same level of scrutiny that the bill had at stage 1.
I am worried about the unintended consequences of things that we have not even begun to consider. For example, the most recent briefing from Dr Anni Donaldson of the University of Strathclyde raised the concern that abusive men would weaponise the legislation against a terminally ill partner. Whether that is likely, it was not something that I had considered in the context of the bill.
Children’s Hospices Across Scotland, which is based in Robin House in Balloch in my constituency, provides world-class respite and palliative care for children. It understandably believes that there should be a legal right to palliative care, and I welcome Miles Briggs’s work in that area. However, even with the change in age from 16 to 18, the bill still brings within scope young people who might have years of stable life left to live. It raises issues around a lack of a clear definition of capacity for young people, the lack of training to identify coercion, the structure of the service and the right of health professionals to opt out.
Speaking to hospices more generally, I am left asking what has happened to the Scottish palliative care strategy that was promised three-and-a-half to four years ago but has not yet been delivered. Where is the funding for hospice staff so that their pay can keep pace with pay for equivalent NHS staff? Why are we not investing in palliative care and making it sustainable? I encourage the Government to make progress in that regard. We talk about choice and, at one level, I absolutely agree, but we are not yet really giving people the choice of good palliative care.
I have given all the information careful consideration. I regret that I cannot support the bill in its current form, but whatever happens at the end of today, I will continue to engage with the process.
15:19