Kate Forbes to vote against Assisted Dying Bill at Holyrood

Scotland’s Deputy First Minister has said she will vote against proposals to legalise assisted dying.

Kate Forbes said she does not think “any amount of legal drafting can prevent people feeling pressured to die”.

First Minister John Swinney said last week that he will vote against the legislation.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and former first minister Humza Yousaf have also voiced opposition to the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill.

First Minister John Swinney said he will vote against the assisted dying plans (Jane Barlow/PA) PA Media

Speaking on the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme, Forbes warned of a slippery slope if the legislation passes.

“I think it is impossible to provide safeguards that will sufficiently avoid pressure being felt by patients who have received a terminal diagnosis,” she said.

“I think the people that are feeling the most concern and trepidation going into this week are disabled people, people who fear that it takes us down a road where, inevitably, across the world, you have seen those arbitrary lines shift.”

She went on: “Canada legalised euthanasia in 2016 but it’s already scrapped the requirement for a person to be terminally ill and is set to extend that to those with mental illness.

“So there are people that are really worried going into this week about what it will mean for them, and I don’t think any amount of legal drafting can prevent people feeling pressured to die, and that could be because of a lack of wider support, or because they feel like a burden on others, or just because that is now an option that has to be presented as they receive care and support.

“It’s for those reasons that I will not be able to vote for the Bill, and I sincerely hope that, as a country, we don’t get to a position where the most vulnerable in society feel like they are a burden.”

The Assisted Dying Bill will face a key vote in Holyrood later this week.

MSPs will vote on Tuesday on whether to support the general principles of the legislation.

If passed, it would allow terminally-ill Scots to seek help to end their life.

Liam MacArthur said at the weekend he is “confident” the Bill will pass the first stage at Holyrood.

The Liberal Democrat MSP behind the proposals said: “I think the general mood is, while it will be close, I am confident the support is there to allow us to go through to the next stage.”

Opponents of the legislation argue that if it is passed, it could leave vulnerable people feeling pressured to prematurely end their life.

Liberal Democrat Liam McArthur is hoping fellow MSPs will back his Assisted Dying Bill (Jane Barlow/PA) PA Media

McArthur, however, believes that the “political mood” at Holyrood is “very, very different from what it was” when the previous Bills were considered.

He said: “The conversations I have had over the past four years with colleagues now suggests there is more of a willingness to look for reasons to support rather than excuses to oppose.

“There are many colleagues who come at this issue with their own personal stories of losing a family member or a close friend to a bad death, therefore they view this issue through that prism, they recognise that the current ban on assisted dying is leading to too many instances where people are at the end of life with horrendous choices.”