Assisted dying bill rejected in Scotland in final vote

The assisted dying bill in Scotland has been rejected by MSPs in a final vote after a lengthy and emotional debate.

It was defeated by 69 votes to 57 in the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday night with one member abstaining.

The Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill would have made it legal for terminally-ill, mentally competent adults to seek medical help to end their lives.

Scotland would have been the first country in the UK to legalise assisted dying.

Liberal Democrat Liam McArthur, who tabled the bill, said voting against it was a ‘woefully inadequate response to the suffering and trauma experienced by dying Scots and their families’.

Opponents had raised concerns about whether the bill did enough to safeguard people being coerced into opting for assisted dying.

In four days of debate, MSPs had also heard concerns about protections for doctors who did not want to participate in assisted dying, and the process of oversight on doctors overseeing approvals.

Changes had been made as the bill made its way through the Scottish Parliament including limiting access to assisted dying to those who only had six months to live.

Assisted dying has been approved in other countries around the world, including Canada and Australia and legislation has also been passed in the crown territories of Jersey and the Isle of Man.

Sandesh Gulhane, a Scottish Conservative MSP and a practising GP, who also chaired the bill’s medical advisory group, had backed the legislation.

‘This bill represents years of work, consultation and scrutiny. It offers compassion, safeguards and dignity for those facing the end of life. If it falls today, [it] will be a lost opportunity to help those suffering and dying who have no voice,’ he said in the debate.

As in England and Wales, where MP Kim Leadbeater’s private members bill to legalise assisted dying is being considered by the House of Lords, there had also been debate on the need to improve palliative care services.

Overall, 12 MSPs who backed the bill at stage one voted to oppose the move at the final stage.

While it had been expected that the vote would be on a knife-edge, it was defeated by a larger margin than had been predicted.

Commenting on the outcome, MDDUS chief medical officer Dr John Holden said: ‘Throughout the debate, MDDUS retained its neutral position on the principle of assisted dying, and that has not changed.

‘However, we were clear in our stance that if an assisted dying regime were legalised in Scotland that doctors would need strong regulatory and legal protections, both for those who participated and for those with a conscientious objection.

‘In the final stages of debate, we had significant concerns when provisions that made clear doctors would have “no duty to participate” were removed from the Bill.

‘It is vital that any future attempts to legislate on assisted dying will address these concerns directly and comprehensively from day one.’

Progress of the assisted dying bill in England and Wales appears to have hit a barrier in the House of Lords.

Former RCGP chair and now-peer Baroness Gerada of Kennington is among those who have voiced frustrations at the record number of amendments that have been out forward which has meant a lack of time for debate before the clock runs out on the current parliamentary term.

The proposed legislation passed a vote in the House of Common last year but in the Lords has been subject to more amendments at committee stage than any other parliamentary bill on record, now standing at 1,227. 

Previously proposed amendments yet to be considered by the House include requirements for a GP to have known a terminally ill person for two years, and to have seen them at least six times.  

The BMA has maintained a ‘neutral’ position on assisted dying but has emphasised the need for ‘absolute freedom of choice for doctors as to whether they participate or not’.   

And the RCGP moved to a position of ‘neither supporting nor opposing’ assisted dying after a vote of its council members in March 2025.   

In May, before the bill passed the House of Commons, a Pulse survey exclusively revealed just under one in four GPs would be prepared to be involved in assisted dying to its completion.