Meeting of the Parliament 10 March 2026 [Draft]
Thank you, Presiding Officer. It is with a great deal of trepidation that I rise to speak to and move the first amendment.
I begin by paying tribute to Liam McArthur for the way in which he has stewarded the bill through the Parliament. It is not an easy topic, but it is one that everyone in the chamber has considered with a great deal of care. That is why I have lodged amendments 136 and 1 on the definition of “terminal illness”, with a view to tightening the definitions, improving the clarity of their scope and providing clarification.
The provisions that are proposed by amendments 136 and 1 are very much in addition to the existing provisions on the definition, rather than being alternatives to them, because I believe that the Parliament has a choice about the kind of bill that it wants Liam McArthur’s bill to be. Do we want it to be simply about enabling an act—making the act of assisted dying as straightforward as possible, which is an absolutely valid view—or do we want it to provide a dispensation in very particular and precise circumstances?
At stage 2, the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee undertook its work diligently, but its view of the bill seemed to be that it was much more about the former rather than the latter. As someone who voted for the bill at stage 1 because I believed in the principle, I am very much of the view that, if we are to progress, we must progress with caution, which is why we need clarification, particularly around what is meant by “terminal” and “progressive”. In my view, as the bill stands, it is open to interpretation. That is why, in amendment 1, I seek to provide expanded definitions that would provide greater clarity.
However, over and above that, I believe that simply having a terminal and progressive condition that is likely to shorten someone’s life is not a sufficient condition for the possibility of an assisted death to be extended to them. In addition, they must be approaching the end of their life—I will deal with that in the next grouping, which is on being within six months of death—and the condition that they find themselves in must be intolerable, without the possibility of improvement.