Assisted Dying (Scotland) Bill to progress to next stage
MSPs have backed the general principles of the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill by 70 votes to 56, with one abstention.
Last updated 13th May 2025
A landmark vote at Holyrood has seen MSPs back the general principles of a Bill to introduce assisted dying for terminally ill Scots.
The legislation, brought forward by Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur, was backed by 70 votes to 56 with one abstention.
It means his Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill can proceed to the next stage at Holyrood, where it will be subject to further scrutiny and amendments.
It marks the third time Holyrood has voted on the issue of assisted dying, with previous attempts to change the law, from Independent MSP Margo MacDonald and Green MSP Patrick Harvie both having failed.
Mr McArthur's Bill will still have to come back to Holyrood after the amendment stage to pass a final vote there before it can become law.
Scottish Tory MSP Jackson Carlaw described Tuesday's debate as the Scottish Parliament "at its very best".
Addressing the chamber, Mr Carlaw - a former Tory leader - said: "What a day, what an afternoon.
"This has been Parliament at its very best.
"It's at times like this that the Parliament is much bigger than the sum of its parts and the contributions from across the chamber with members speaking without a party line, without a whip, without a script that's been pre-prepared, has allowed for some deeply moving and incredibly powerful contributions on all sides."
Scottish Tory MSP Stephen Kerr urged MSPs not to "cross the Rubicon" and back assisted dying legislation.
Speaking in the debate on Tuesday, the MSP said: "Let's build a country where no-one feels their only option is death.
"Once the line is crossed, we cannot go back.
"I heard reference to crossing the Rubicon, I think that's correct.
"This isn't compassion, it's a risk too great, too permanent, too dangerous, so I say to my colleagues, don't risk it.
"Reject this proposal, protect the vulnerable, protect the principle that every life is worth living."
Rather than legislating for assisted dying, the Scottish Parliament's first permanent wheelchair user has urged MSPs to instead "legislate for people to live".
Labour MSP Pam Duncan-Glancy described the Bill as a "slippery slope", urging fellow parliamentarians to vote it down on Tuesday.
"Rather than legislating to assist to die, let us resolve to legislate to assist people to live," Ms Duncan-Glancy said, fighting back tears.
Earlier in her speech during the debate, the disability rights campaigner said that in moments where some are "ground down", they "wouldn't only believe we were better off dead, but the state could help to make that happen".
She added: "Today I've only scratched the surface of concerns, but for me it comes down to this: How can it be possible for people to make a free and equal choice to allow a system that oppresses them so much to also potentially assist them to take their own lives?"
Ms Duncan-Glancy urged those who have any doubts to vote against the Bill at stage one.
Tory MSP Jeremy Balfour said he could imagine feeling like a "burden" to his family and society if he is diagnosed with a terminal illness in later life.
"I could imagine in a few years' time, hopefully a number of years' time, having some terminal illness and feeling the burden that could be put on my wife and my children because of the care they give me day in, day out," he said.
"I have spoken to other disabled people who have felt and feel the same.
In such a situation, if proposals to allow assisted dying are passed, Mr Balfour said some could seek to ease the pressure felt by their families by ending their lives.
Passing proposals on assisted dying would put the most vulnerable in Scotland "at risk", Tory MSP Jeremy Balfour has said.
Speaking in Tuesday's debate, Mr Balfour - who is disabled - said: "I have become convinced that the introduction of assisted dying puts the most vulnerable in our society at risk.
"We, this afternoon, as a Parliament stand at a crossroads.
"Along one path we face introducing death as a viable treatment for suffering, fundamentally redefining both our society's belief in the inherent value of human life and the relationship between a doctor and a patient.
"On the other hand, we can choose to maintain the dignity of all human life and make real and meaningful investment in the palliative care system."
Mr Balfour insisted he was not arguing for the "status quo", but pushed for better end-of-life care for those with terminal conditions.
SNP MSP Marie McNair warned that passing the assisted dying legislation would "send a message" that some lives are valued above others.
Speaking in the debate on Tuesday, the former hospice nurse said: "This Bill would fundamentally change the relationship between patients and clinicians, it will influence culture and it will alter how we view ageing, illness and disability.
"I believe that passing this Bill will send a message that certain individuals' lives are are less valuable than others and that those individuals are considered a burden to society."
The MSP also worried that the eligibility criteria could later be expanded to include others.
"This legislation opens a door we may not be able to close," she said.
"We cannot, with any great certainty, guarantee that safeguards would be kept in place and that leads us down the very dangerous path of living in a society that devalues the lives of the most vulnerable."
SNP backbencher for Paisley George Adam also gave the Bill his support, as he spoke about his wife Stacey's medical conditions.
In an emotional contribution, he detailed to Holyrood how she suffers from secondary progressive multiple sclerosis, as well as osteoporosis, asthma, and high blood pressure.
Mr Adam said: "No matter how much strength and spirit she shows, and believe me she has got plenty of that, we know the road ahead could get harder."
He said he and his wife both supported Mr McArthur's Bill, saying they did so "not because it is about us now, but one day it might be".
Mr Adam continued: "We hope that time never comes, but if it does, if the suffering becomes unbearable, Stacey should have that right to choose how her life ends, with dignity, with compassion. This Bill gives Stacey peace of mind, because the truth is I don't know if I would be strong enough to let go. The thought of life without her is unbearable.
"I don't want to make that decision, I want Stacey to be able to decide. That's what this Bill is about.
"For Stacey, for me, for thousands of other families, it is about having that choice, peaceful and dignified end.
"This isn't about ending life early, it is about making sure when death is near people have a choice that is safe, legal and compassionate."
Scottish Labour MSP Colin Smyth said it would be "hard" to tell a constituent the manner of their death was not their decision.
Speaking in the debate on Tuesday, the MSP admitted he had some concerns with the Bill but would vote to pass it, allowing for further amendments at subsequent stages.
"When a constituent looks you in the eye and says 'I'm dying, when the time comes, I want the right to choose how I pass, in my final days, with dignity', it's hard to respond 'that's not your decision, that's mine,'" he said.
"I have had many such conversations with many constituents who are dying and who are afraid, not of death, but of how they will die.
"They fear pain, they fear the loss of control, they fear the indignity - they're not suicidal, they're terminally ill and they want to live, but they also want to have a choice of how they die when the time comes."
Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie took responsibility for the last Bill on assisted dying at Holyrood back in 2015.
He led on that proposal after the death of the MSP who had introduced the member's Bill, the independent Margo MacDonald.
He said that Mr McArthur's work on this Bill "marks a significant improvement" on the two Bills that have come before.
Mr Harvie added: "There has been longstanding public support for a change in the law, but it has taken time to create legislation that can properly bring the law into line with public views."
The Green went on to tell MSPs: "I genuinely don't know what choice I would make, perhaps we can't know until we face it.
"But the choice should be there."
Conservative MSP and practising GP Dr Sandesh Gulhane said the debate saw Holyrood face a "fundamental question" on whether the Bill should proceed for further scrutiny.
However he stressed Parliament "must acknowledge the painful truth" that the current situation means those "in pain and suffering with financial means can travel to places like Dignitas to end their live on their own terms".
Dr Gulhane added: "Those without such resources are left to suffer. A rule for the wealthy and another for everyone else, that cannot be right."
He said: "This Bill, with strict and designated safeguards, would give terminally ill people regardless of income the opportunity to choose a peaceful and dignified death at home."
He stressed the decision to back the Bill at stage one was not one he had "come to lightly", adding: "As an NHS clinician, I have cared for many people in their final days. I have sat at the bedside of patients in pain that even the best palliative care could not relieve.
"I have heard families plead through tears that they would not let a dog die like this. I have seen the quiet devastation of loved ones, forced to watch suffering, knowing there is nothing more they can do.
"And these experiences stay with you, they shape you and they have led me to believe we must do better. Where possible we must offer compassion, choice and dignity at the end of life. And that is what this Bill seeks to do."
Mr McArthur went on to tell MSPs: "Today we can take a significant step forward, giving terminally ill adults across Scotland more choice.
"It's a brave step, yes, but it is a compassionate one.
"And it is a step I believe Scotland is ready to take."
He added that there were "consequences too in not changing the law, the horrendous decisions and bad deaths faced by dying Scots".
Referencing those who have been calling for a change in the law, he told how MSPs have been "hearing ever more loudly, ever more often, ever more painfully, from, our constituents".
Calling on colleagues to back the proposals, he said: "We can't continue to leave this in the too difficult box, that would be unforgivable."
Mr McArthur said assisted dying was a "choice that for so long, so many of our constituents have asked us to provide".
But he stressed his Bill had "strict eligibility criteria" with proposals for two doctors needed to independently certify that someone is both terminally ill and has the mental capacity to request an assisted death.
Only those who have lived in Scotland for at least 12 months, and who are registered with a GP in Scotland would be able to make such a request.
There would also be a time period of at least two weeks between a request being made and the necessary medication being provided - with the patient having to be able to take this themselves.
And while it had originally been planned people could apply to an assisted death from the age of 16, Mr McArthur confirmed recently if the Bill passes Tuesday's vote he would seek to amend this to 18.
But he insisted there is "clearly overwhelming public support for a change in the law across Scotland".
Mr McArthur went on to stress however that this evening's vote would not see the Bill become law.
Instead Holyrood is being asked to agree whether it supports the general principles of the proposal.
Mr McArthur told MSPs: "If you simply believe that change should not happen, on the basis of faith or whatever other reason, I regret but respect that.
"But if you accept the current ban on assisted dying is resulting in too many bad deaths, traumatising patients as well as family and friends left behind, if you recognise that legal uncertainty is placing patients, families and medics in an invidious position, if you believe in the principle of allowing dying Scots more choice and control over the way in which they die, even if you feel my Bill needs amended and safeguards strengthened, then you must vote to allow Parliament the opportunity to consider amendments."
Such a stance would still leave MSPs free to vote down the Bill in its final stage three vote, he said.
But the MSP insisted: "It is surely not tenable for Parliament to once again say that this is all too difficult, to refuse to undertake the work required, too see if a Bill that commands majority support and public confidence can be agreed."
Terminally ill Scots are "desperate" for a change in the law to allow them to seek help to die, the MSP behind an assisted dying Bill at Holyrood has said.
Liberal Democrat Liam McArthur opened the debate on legislation he has put forward, with a plea to the Scottish Parliament to consider the needs of those who have been diagnosed with terminal conditions.
His Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill would, if passed, allow people in the advanced stages of a terminal illness to request medical help to end their life.
In an emotional speech at Holyrood Mr McArthur said: "I know how much this Bill matters to those dying Scots and their families who are desperate to see the law changed, to allow more choice, compassion and dignity at the end of life.
"And it's their voices, their needs, their interests, that must be at the centre of this debate and at the forefront of our minds as we come to vote this evening."
His comments came before a key vote in Holyrood this evening on whether or not the Bill can proceed for further scrutiny.