This evening’s vote, by 70 to 56, in the Scottish Parliament to continue with their support of Liam McArthur MSP’s Bill to legalise Assisted Dying will be the cause of many a sigh of relief amongst right-to-die campaigners on both sides of the border. At times during the debate, it rather felt as though the ground had been moving against rather than in favour. The BBC was expecting the result to be “very close”, so the winning margin of 11% – slightly higher than its equivalent in the London Parliament last November – will have left the pro campaigners feeling reassured.
The big votes for the Bill covering England and Wales will be taking place over the next few weeks. As in Scotland, the reservations being expressed are those about the strength of the “safeguards”. The anxieties about “coercion” have assumed a volume which is surprising in view of the fact that the Bill already contains more safeguards than any such Bill passed anywhere in the world.
It is interesting that the Assisted Death providers in Switzerland, with whom this website is in regular contact, feel that these two UK Bills will make little difference to the number of British applications they receive. At the moment, just over 100 British citizens per year make a one-way trip to Switzerland, a number that is expected to rise with or without any new laws.
