Meeting of the Parliament 17 March 2026 [Draft]
I, too, pay tribute to my friend Liam McArthur. I can only imagine the emotional toll that this process has taken on him. Whatever the result of tonight’s vote, he has done a brilliant job in highlighting the suffering that so many people are forced to go through at the end of their lives.
I was not planning to speak in today’s debate. I spoke in the stage 1 debate and thought that I had said everything that I wanted to say. However, I then thought that this would be my last chance to speak in a debate in this parliamentary session, and it might be my last chance to speak in the chamber for ever, as Paul O’Kane pointed out.
I could not look myself in the mirror if I did not do all that I could to try to get the bill approved. I did not take part in the discussions on stage 2 or stage 3 amendments, but I listened carefully to what everyone was saying. I must admit that I was saddened when listening to some of the debate last week. We heard a lot about doctors, nurses, lawyers, managers and social workers. At times, it felt as though we had forgotten what the bill is about. It is about people. The bill is about people suffering and what we could do to make their deaths as dignified and as pain-free as possible by giving them a choice when the end has come to reduce their suffering. We need to remember when we vote tonight that it is about the person who is suffering and giving them a choice.
Much has been said about palliative care. Of course we need palliative care, and of course we would all like it to be better, but palliative care is no magic wand. It is not like taking a couple of paracetamols to get rid of a headache. It does not remove all the pain and make everything all right. People should still have a choice when the pain becomes unbearable. It is certainly not an either/or when it comes to the bill.
Like many people here, I have got emotional over the bill. I have had conversations with those closest and dearest to me about the topic that no one likes to talk about, which is death. It is going to happen to us all and we should be able to talk about it, but it often seems too hard to do just that.
As I said at stage 1, I think I would never be able to have an assisted death. I think I would fight to have my last possible breath, but I cannot be sure. None of us here can be sure because none of us is suffering in the same way that some people are having to suffer right now.
We all have stories. My story is about a friend of mine caring for his mother at the end of her life. She was hooked up to morphine but begging her son to end her suffering. He will live with the guilt that he was not able to help his mother more when her pain was unbearable and all hope had gone. That is what we are putting people and their families through, but today we can change that.
As I said at the start, this might be the last time that I speak in here, but if it is, and if the bill passes, I will feel that I have achieved something in my time here. I will have played my part in reducing suffering. We have an opportunity to reduce the suffering that some are forced to go through at the end of life. I appeal to all colleagues who have not made up their minds. We have an opportunity to show what a compassionate place Scotland can be. We have an opportunity to reduce suffering at the end of life. We have all heard too many stories of people having a bad death. We have the opportunity today to make that better and to make a difference.
Assisted dying does not mean that more people die; it means that fewer people will suffer. Please do not let that opportunity pass us by. Let us not kick the can down the road for others to make that choice later on. Let us show that this Parliament works and truly represents the majority of people outside of here who support the bill.