
Assisted dying Bill ‘devalues human life', says top Bishop
The assisted dying legislation which passed its first parliamentary hurdle at Holyrood on Tuesday 'devalues human life', a leading Catholic Bishop has said.
John Keenan, the Bishop of Paisley and the President of the Bishops' Conference of Scotland, expressed his 'sadness' that MSPs backed the general principles of the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill.
Proposed by Lib Dem MSP Liam McArthur, the Bill will go forward for further scrutiny in the Scottish Parliament.
But Bishop Keenan equated assisted dying to suicide, claiming the law would normalise the idea of someone taking their own life, as he urged politicians to focus on caring for people to live.
Mr McArthur said equating assisted dying and suicide was 'regrettable'.
'It is hard to believe that any parliamentarian could support what will effectively be the creation of a state suicide service,' the Bishop said.
'Politicians should be working hard to provide the support necessary for people to live, not give them a lethal concoction of drugs to die.
'At a time when suicide is on the rise in Scotland and we are doing our best to reduce it, what message are we sending when we say that suicide is the right choice provided it is overseen by a doctor?
'Laws like this normalise suicide and, with it, the false idea that some people's lives are beyond hope.
'This dangerous legislation devalues human life and puts our most vulnerable brothers and sisters under terrible pressure to take their lives prematurely.
'When vulnerable people, including the elderly and disabled, express concerns about being a burden, the appropriate response is not to suggest that they have a duty to die.
'Rather, it is to commit ourselves to meeting their needs and providing the care and compassion they need to help them live.
'I urge every MSP to consider the great dangers inherent in assisted suicide legislation and to focus their energies on ensuring we provide better palliative care, giving everyone access to modern pain relief and the highest quality of care.'
Mr McArthur, who is the third MSP in Holyrood's history to table a Bill on assisted dying, said he understood there would always be opposition to the legislation.
'This is about putting in place more choice, it's not about any obligation,' he told BBC Radio Scotland.
'Indeed, for medical practitioners, I think there needs to be a robust conscientious objection to ensure that their choices are respected.'
He added: 'But I think referring to suicide is regrettable.
'I know a number of mental health charities, for example in Australia, have reflected that the mindset of an individual considering suicide could not be more different than the mindset of somebody faced with a terminal diagnosis, who's desperate to live, desperate to get the most out of the life that they have left.'
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


BBC News
12 minutes ago
- BBC News
MSPs vote in favour of scaled-back social care reforms
MSPs have unanimously passed legislation which will allow people in care homes to receive visits from a named loved one even in restricted Care Reform (Scotland) Bill will also introduce changes to social care procurement and a new right to breaks for unpaid legislation was backed by 116 votes to to introduce a national care service, which were initially part of the bill, were dropped in January after unions withdrew support and a number of health boards and care organisations expressed concerns. What changes to social care are planned? One of the big changes planned under the new law is a legal right to breaks for unpaid mean councils will have a duty to decide whether a carer is able to take sufficient breaks from their caring they are not, then the local authority will provide support to enable this, such as providing funding for short respite policy, given Scotland has around 700,000 unpaid carers, will cost between £196m and £315m by 2035/36, according to the Bill's financial it remains a fraction of the £13.9bn that unpaid care is currently saving Scotland every to the way information is shared in health and social care - to make it less likely that people will have to repeat their information - as well changes to procurement rules in the sector are also up the powers that watchdogs can take against failing care providers is also part of the most high-profile part of the Care Reform (Scotland) Bill is Anne's Law, which allows people in care homes to receive visits from a named loved one even in restricted is named after Anne Duke, who died aged 63 in November 2021 after being cut off from her family while battling early-onset dementia during the Covid pandemic. Why was the National Care Service ditched? The original proposal for a National Care Service, inspired by the NHS, was to take social care provision and staff away from local authorities into a new national was then dropped in favour of creating a national care board to supervise service delivery and improve consistency - but this failed to win over a growing number of body Cosla and trade unions then withdrew their support for the project, while a number of health boards and care organisations also expressed plan, which was also subject to a series of delays, was eventually scrapped in January after £30m was spent on the Care Minister Maree Todd said at the time she was "still committed to the ambitions of the National Care Service" but added the SNP no longer had the support it needed in parliament to pass its original plans into law.


Telegraph
14 minutes ago
- Telegraph
The SNP's blockade of nuclear power in Scotland is out of date
In a last throw of the dice, the SNP tried to undercut the UK Government's plan for a nuclear energy future by insisting that they would concentrate on wind and solar power to keep the lights on in Scotland ... without nuclear power. It was all a bit pathetic. Even before Ed Milliband, the Energy Secretary, had finished his oration on the UK's welcome new energy policy, the 'flat earthers' in the SNP and Greens were out in force denouncing what they claim were the dangers of nuclear power. And what was most pathetic was the fact that renewable power will probably always play a part in Britain's energy needs – after all, Mr Milliband is a fan – alongside a new £14-billion nuclear programme. But with an SNP Government, only renewables will count; no nuclear allowed is to be their policy. What's wrong with both, asks the man and woman in the street? The answer is simple: John Swinney's 'die in a ditch' dislike of nuclear power may be legendary but it is also outdated at a time when the Russian invasion of Ukraine has threatened the world's oil and gas supplies. And the recent power shutdown in Spain, which also affected Portugal and parts of France, has raised serious questions about renewables such as wind and solar power. In spite of this, the First Minister has often declared that he 'never had and never will' support investment in nuclear power plants. This puts him in direct opposition to the UK's energy plan, and also without a cogent policy for how he would keep Scotland's lights on. His view, however, is not just opposed by Labour and Conservatives, but even by SNP supporters. A recent opinion survey suggested that a majority now believe that their party's stance is, at the very least, 'unrealistic'. It has always looked hypocritical for Scotland to benefit from nuclear power when its SNP Government continued to oppose it, and the rest of the UK shouldered the burden, But this attitude now looks perverse. UK energy policy the preserve of Westminster, but the Scottish Government retains power over planning – SNP ministers have used planning controls to block the construction of any new nuclear plants in Scotland. They did this despite one of Scotland's two ageing nuclear power stations, the Hunterston B plant in North Ayrshire, shutting down in January 2022. And Torness, which still accounts for around 15 per cent of Scotland's electricity generation, is due to close in 2030. Ian Murray, Labour's Scottish Secretary, posted on X: 'The SNP block on new nuclear is costing Scotland jobs and investment.' Michael Shanks, the energy minister and twice recent victor over SNP candidates in Rutherglen, echoed Mr Murray's pledge that an incoming Labour Scottish Government next May would abolish the SNP's opposition to nuclear. First of all, however, Labour must win that election to the Holyrood Parliament. Around 20,000 Scottish jobs were already dependent on the nuclear power industry and 150 Scottish firms were working on the Hinkley Point C plant. Mr Shanks added that many more jobs would be in the pipeline for Scotland with a Scottish Government that 'unashamedly backs nuclear power'. The energy situation is bound to play a massive part in next year's Scottish Parliament election. How strange that Labour will be saying that both renewables and nuclear will play a part in keeping the lights on, while the SNP will insist that only half of that equation is enough.


Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Scots more likely to be crime victims than the English
Scots are more likely to be crime victims than people in England and Wales, according to an official survey that found declining confidence in the police and the SNP's justice system. The SNP government's Scottish crime and justice survey said that that 19.9 per cent of adults were estimated to have experienced at least one crime in 2023-24. This compared with 16.1 per cent of people in England and Wales. The proportion of Scots who had experienced violent crime (2.9 per cent) was more than double the rate south of the border (1.4 per cent). The survey stated that, for the first time, Scotland's 'property and violent crime victimisation' rate (12.1 per cent) was higher than that in England and Wales (10.1 per cent). The proportion of violent crime offenders aged under 16 was 31 per cent, the highest level ever recorded and nearly quadruple the eight per cent figure in 2021-22. The survey also disclosed that only 36 per cent of Scots were confident that the sentences handed out to offenders fitted the crime, down five points compared to 2021-22. More than a third of adults (38 per cent) were not confident in the ability of the police to catch criminals, with a small decline in the number who said the opposite. 'Law-abiding Scots have lost trust' Angela Constance, the SNP's Justice Secretary, said that total violent and property crime levels had fallen by more than a third since 2008-09, the year after her party came to power. But Liam Kerr, the Scottish Tories' shadow justice secretary, said: 'This damning survey exposes how badly the SNP's soft-touch justice system is failing Scots. 'More people are victims of crime here than in England and Wales, while a growing majority feel that punishments don't fit the crime. 'It is little wonder that law-abiding Scots have lost trust in the system when the SNP continually panders to offenders and leaves victims as an afterthought.' Pauline McNeill, Scottish Labour's justice spokeswoman, said: 'Violent crime is on the rise and increasing levels of property crime leave far too many people feeling unsafe in their own homes. 'Our justice system is stretched to breaking point after years of SNP mismanagement and neglect so it is no surprise public trust is declining.' These findings were based on a survey of 4,973 people aged 16 or over living in private households in Scotland, with interviews conducted between July 2023 and April 2024. It estimated that nearly 1.2 million crimes were committed in Scotland in 2023-24, with fraud and computer misuse accounting for more than two-fifths (44 per cent). Almost half of this category (47 per cent) were bank and credit card fraud. The majority of violent incidents were minor assaults resulting in no or negligible injury (61 per cent), with a further 8 per cent being serious assaults and 5 per cent robberies. It emerged in March that Police Scotland have 'written off' investigating more than 12,000 crimes under a controversial new protocol to cut officer workloads. A pilot scheme was initially launched in the North East of Scotland, whereby some 'minor' crimes were not investigated if they were deemed to require excessive manpower. This protocol was rolled out across Scotland and a report disclosed that 12,017 crime reports had been 'directly filed', meaning they were not fully investigated. Ms Constance said: 'Crime continues to be down significantly over the long term, though the survey does highlight areas of concern and the need for continued action from governments and justice partners. 'While the levels of crime experienced remain similar to the pre-pandemic position in 2019-20, I am keen to understand what has contributed to the rises in crime identified since the 2021-22 survey.' Mark Sutherland, Assistant Chief Constable, said: 'Levels of crime are similar to the period before the pandemic, while estimates that around one in 10 adults experienced fraud and computer misuse underline that policing must continue to respond to changing demands. 'The Chief Constable has outlined a vision for policing of safer communities, less crime, and supported victims and we're delivering on those ambitions, including through a dedicated cyber and fraud unit and plans for a strengthened community policing model.'