Meeting of the Parliament 17 March 2026 [Draft]
Unfortunately, Neil Gray, who up until today has led on Liam McArthur’s Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill for the Scottish Government, was admitted to hospital yesterday. I am pleased to say that he has now been discharged, but he is unable to take part in this evening’s debate. I will be keeping my remarks on behalf of the Government short, and I remind members that the Government is neutral on the bill.
The bill has been carefully and properly considered by Parliament, through the actions of Mr McArthur as the member in charge of the bill and through the contributions of all members. There are strongly held and passionate views on both sides of the debate, but I believe that members have taken a considered and courteous approach so far, and I am sure that that will continue this evening.
I would also like to note the work of the members of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee and the parliamentary staff who have supported them. They have had a larger role to play than most through the bill’s first two stages and have considered these profound matters with the care and seriousness that they deserve.
Let me now turn to the role of the Scottish Government. As members are aware, we undertook to respect the will of this Parliament by engaging with the UK Government to try to resolve the issues of legislative competence that we had identified with the bill as introduced, which we set out in our September 2024 memorandum, as well as with provisions that were added to the bill at stage 2.
During the stage 3 considerations, Liam McArthur reminded members that he, too, was aware of the need to ensure legislative competence, and I appreciate his acknowledgement of the constructive and timely work by both Governments in that regard. As Neil Gray has said to Parliament, that engagement, which took place in good faith, resulted in a section 30 order that modified schedule 5 of the Scotland Act 1998 to allow the Scottish Parliament to legislate on the identification and regulation of substances and devices for use in assisted dying in relation to the bill. Both Parliaments and the Privy Council have approved the order, and it came into force on 11 March.
That engagement also resulted in an in-principle agreement with the UK Government to take forward a section 104 order, should the bill be passed, although it would be for a future Scottish Government and the UK Government to work together on the detail of that order. That in-principle agreement covers making provision consequential on the bill for individuals and practitioners to opt out of participating in assisted dying and providing appropriate employment protections. It also covers the consideration and making of appropriate provision to specify the training, qualifications and experience that would be required for participating medical practitioners and nurses.
Through stage 3 amendments that were agreed to by the Parliament last week, the changes that were necessary to address the issues of legislative competence with the bill have been made.
Another potential issue was that amendments at stage 3 could have brought the bill further outwith competence. That is why the Government provided a commentary on the amendments, in which it highlighted technical, deliverability, legal and legislative competence matters, to help members in making decisions on the amendments that they might wish to accept or otherwise. We also did that at stage 2, and, yesterday, we provided a final short commentary on the bill to support MSPs in making their decision.
We all know the huge sensitivity of the subject that is before us, the complexity of it and the weight that is on our shoulders as we make our individual, personal decision on the bill. It is now for members to cast their final vote in the decision before us.