Meeting of the Parliament 17 March 2026 [Draft]
First, I acknowledge every person who has taken the time to contact me to set out their views on the bill. Without doubt, this bill has generated more correspondence than anything else that I have dealt with in the 12 years that I have been an MSP: several thousand constituents have contacted me to set out their views. As I said in the stage 1 debate, some of the experiences that people have shared with me were heartbreaking. I understand with sincerity the strong views and beliefs, and the legitimacy of the arguments on both sides of the debate.
For me, the questions around access to quality palliative care are crucial to the debate and to my decision making. The proposer of the bill has said time and again that it is not one or the other, that access to quality palliative care should sit alongside access to assisted dying and that people should have that choice. However, we know that that is not currently the case: if the bill were to be passed tonight, people dying would have access to assisted dying but would continue not to have access to quality palliative care. They would be in a position whereby they can be supported to choose death but they would not be supported to choose life.
Only four weeks ago, I raised a question in the Parliament on the report published by Marie Curie showing that one in three people in Scotland die with unmet palliative care needs. I am sure that we would all agree that that is an unacceptable situation but, for me, it is fundamental to the question that we are debating. I say again that if you are dying and you are not able to access the support and care that you need, but you are able to access an assisted death, you are being denied the choice of life. That cannot be right and it is not right.
There are many other unanswered questions over the bill, but one that I will highlight is the cost of delivering it, which is unknown. The Scottish Government says that a degree of reprioritisation will be required. In other words, members are being asked to support a bill over the implementation and cost of which there are many uncertainties; nevertheless, we are being warned that other services will be cut to fund it. Surely, that is not right.
I found myself struggling throughout the debate on amendments at stage 3, because legitimate arguments are being made on both sides of the debate. I kept asking myself what I would want at the end of life. Would I want to be able to make the choice of an assisted death? However, I kept coming back to the first principle, which is that I would want to be able to exercise the choice of accessing the support of quality palliative care. If that choice is not available, there is no choice.
We have the power, ability and resource to prioritise palliative care and make Scotland a world leader. For the reasons that I have stated, I believe that that should be our priority, and I will vote against the bill tonight.