Community / Wishart and most Highlands and Islands MSPs vote against assisted dying bill
BEATRICE Wishart was one of 69 MSPs who voted against the assisted dying bill in the Scottish Parliament last night (Tuesday).
The bill, led by Wishart’s Orkney Lib Dem colleague Liam McArthur failed to pass with a vote of 69 against 57.
After an at times emotional debate, MSPs were given a free vote in the late night session – meaning there was no party line to follow.
Shetland MSP Wishart was the only one of the five Lib Dems to vote against McArthur’s bill, which would have seen terminally ill, mentally competent adults able to request medical help to end their lives.
Among the concerns cited by those against the bill were coercion, while there were also calls for improving palliative care.
When Wishart voted against the bill at its first stage last year, she said she had concerns about “coercion and the change in the doctor-patient relationship”.
She has been contacted for comment regarding last night’s vote.
In terms of the Highlands and Islands MSPs, only the Greens’ Ariane Burgess voted for the bill.
Burgess said that she was “deeply grateful to everyone” that took time to share their views on the subject with her.
“Across Scotland, I hear a strong desire for compassionate, dignified end‑of‑life choices, and I believe our current laws fall short of providing that,” she said.
“Liam McArthur’s bill offered a carefully designed framework with robust safeguards. Having considered the bill with great care, I was content to support it at the final stage of voting.
“I am grateful to colleagues for their careful amendments to ensure that the final legislation was safe, compassionate, and grounded in the thoughtful national conversation this sensitive issue deserved.”
Labour MSP Rhoda Grant voted against the bill, and said afterwards she felt it posed too great a risk to the vulnerable.
“There is something inherently wrong with a system where you could potentially access help to die on the NHS, yet we still need to fundraise just to secure basic end-of-life care,” she said.
“Our priority must be to fix our broken care system, not to offer a way out of it because the support isn’t there.
“The safeguards presented were simply not enough to prevent the creeping coercion of the most vulnerable.
“By rejecting this bill, the Scottish Parliament has sent a clear message that our duty of care is absolute and that no one should ever feel pressured into ending their life due to a lack of social or medical support.”
Speaking afterwards McArthur said he was “devastated” by the result, but added his belief that the topic would return to parliament in the future.
It was the third time the topic has come to the Scottish Parliament since devolution in 1999.
This week saw some amendments made to the bill, however this was not enough to sway things in its favour.
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