{"id":331046,"date":"2025-05-11T13:45:37","date_gmt":"2025-05-11T18:45:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=331046"},"modified":"2025-05-09T17:24:00","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T22:24:00","slug":"head-scottish-government-vote-against-assisted-suicide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/head-scottish-government-vote-against-assisted-suicide\/","title":{"rendered":"Head of Scottish government plans to vote against country’s assisted suicide bill"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

(Right to Life UK<\/a>) The Scottish First Minister has said he will vote against the assisted suicide Bill set to be debated in Scotland next week.<\/p>\n

The Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill<\/a>, which intends to legalise state-assisted suicide for residents of Scotland, is set to be voted on by MSPs on 13 May. Last week, the Bill sponsor, Liam McArthur, raised the minimum age for eligibility from 16 to 18 in an apparent attempt to gain support for his side.<\/p>\n

However, this afternoon, First Minister John Swinney came out against the Bill, saying that he could not support it. He told<\/a> BBC Scotland News \u201cI\u2019ve come to the conclusion that I can\u2019t support [the legislation] because I\u2019m worried that it would fundamentally change the relationships between patients and clinicians\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m worried that some of the vulnerable in our society might feel that they are a burden and that they may therefore opt or feel under pressure to end their life prematurely\u201d.<\/p>\n

Swinney said he had \u201cagonised\u201d over whether to support the Bill in a way he had not for previous attempts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t separate myself from my own judgements\u201d, he went on. \u201cI also have my family perspective on this \u2013 my wife has a terminal condition and that is something we live with. I can\u2019t for a moment suggest that these real factors have had no impact on the decision I\u2019ve made\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Stage 1 vote next week will be the third time in the Scottish Parliament\u2019s history that a vote will be held on assisted suicide.<\/p>\n

The First Minister explained some of the specific difficulties he had with the Bill saying \u201cI\u2019m concerned that we don\u2019t have a guarantee that the legislation could essentially extend in scope beyond the decision in principle\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel it\u2019s wrongly principled to go down this route and that\u2019s why I\u2019ll vote against it on Tuesday\u201d.<\/p>\n

READ: Evil: US patients offered assisted suicide instead of medical care<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Assisted suicide age raised from 16 to 18<\/strong><\/p>\n

Swinney\u2019s public opposition to the Bill comes just days after McArthur\u2019s decision to raise the minimum age to access assisted suicide in the proposed Scottish legislation from 16 to 18.<\/p>\n

According<\/a> to The Sunday Times, McArthur was told by several MSPs that they would only give the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill<\/a> their support if he raised the minimum age from 16 to 18. One of the Bill\u2019s supporters described the raising of the minimum age as a \u201ctactical retreat\u201d, used by McArthur to ensure his Bill passed, and he would be prepared to make \u201cother changes if required to get it through\u201d. The unnamed parliamentarian said <\/a>\u201cThe age thing was always there to be traded, a tactical retreat. Most of the detail is resolvable, and there will be other changes if required to get it through\u201d.<\/p>\n

Former Associate Professor of Bioethics at St Mary\u2019s University, London, Dr Trevor Stammers, condemned this move, writing<\/a>\u201cTrading with the lives of teenagers does not commend the Bill\u201d. Stammers also described<\/a> this change to the Bill as \u201ca last ditch effort to save the Bill\u201d and said the offer of assisted suicide was \u201ca chilling prospect at either age [16 or 18]\u201d.<\/p>\n

Critics said the move suggested a feeling of panic amongst McArthur and his team. Scottish Conservative Councillor James Bundy said<\/a> \u201cSupporters of the assisted dying Bill are panicking \u2013 raising the age from 16 to 18 won\u2019t fix the risks, it just proves them. This Bill is flawed, unsafe, and open to legal challenge. MSPs must vote it down at Stage 1\u201d.<\/p>\n

Last year, Swinney himself said<\/a> he had \u201csignificant concerns\u201d about teenagers as young as 16 and 17 being able to end their lives under the Bill. Despite McArthur raising the age, Swinney will still not vote in favour of the Bill.<\/p>\n

The First Minister\u2019s statements also follow a report<\/a> by Scotland\u2019s Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, which directly identified significant flaws with the Bill.<\/p>\n

One area of contention is the definition of terminal illness, which the Bill itself defines<\/a> loosely, saying that it applies in cases in which someone has an \u201cadvanced and progressive disease, illness or condition from which they are unable to recover and that can reasonably be expected to cause their premature death\u201d.<\/p>\n

Under the Bill, anyone with a terminal condition that could foreseeably end their lives, even many decades in the future, would qualify for an assisted death, including those with conditions such as anorexia, Down\u2019s syndrome, and people with disabilities.<\/p>\n

Pam Duncan-Glancy, MSP for Glasgow, the first permanent wheelchair user in the Scottish Parliament, said<\/a> \u201cThis report confirms what disabled people like me have warned all along: that once a line is crossed, it is incredibly difficult to stop that line moving. Make no mistake, this bill as drafted is very broadly drawn, it does not set a timescale on the definition of terminally ill, merely that someone must have a condition which could end in their premature death\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is already worryingly wide but added to this, is the very real risk, identified by the committee, that this Bill could open the door to far wider interpretations \u2013 and it puts disabled people at unacceptable risk\u201d.<\/p>\n

Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said:<\/p>\n

The First Minister\u2019s public opposition to the assisted suicide Bill in Scotland is a significant blow to the Bill\u2019s supporters. He is right to say it will fundamentally change the relationship between patients and clinicians, and that it is a threat to vulnerable people who may feel pressured into ending their lives due to fear of being a burden. <\/em><\/p>\n

Hopefully other MSPs will follow his example and vote against this legislation next week.<\/em><\/p>\n

Editor’s Note: This article was published at Right to Life UK<\/a> and is reprinted here with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Right to Life UK) The Scottish First Minister has said he will vote against the assisted suicide Bill set to be debated in Scotland next week. The Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill, which intends to legalise state-assisted suicide for residents of Scotland, is set to be voted on by MSPs on 13 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":669,"featured_media":331047,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[7077,4],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nHead of Scottish government plans to vote against country's assisted suicide bill<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"First Minister John Swinney: "I\u2019m worried that some of the vulnerable... might feel... pressure to end their life prematurely."\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/righttolife.org.uk\/news\/first-minister-to-vote-against-assisted-suicide-bill-in-scotland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" 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