Cross-party campaign and religious lobbying: How Scotland's assisted dying legislation fell
A co-ordinated campaign spearheaded by MSPs in Holyrood’s three biggest parties and lobbying by religious groups defeated Scotland’s assisted dying legislation.
An orchestrated cross-party campaign that honed in on convincing a dozen MSPs to change their mind on assisted dying saw off the emotional attempt to get the legislation over the line, those opposing the bill have revealed.
Liam McArthur’s assisted dying legislation fell at the final hurdle on Tuesday with 12 MSPs who previously supported the bill at the first vote last year changing their mind after fears over coercion, legislative competence and disability rights could not be addressed. Religious lobby groups also targeted MSPs who had previously backed the legislation.
A collective of politicians from across the divide met dozens of times in the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s crunch vote - with a laser focus on identifying and convincing “switchers” to do so.
The so-called ‘No’ campaign has pointed to the emotive speeches, many delivered by MSPs wanting the legislation to become law, failing to address the concerns of the switchers. In short, the winning campaign believe those supporting assisted dying won some hearts but crucially not minds.
READ MORE: Assisted dying Scotland: High emotions as MSPs plead for votes on most-profound Holyrood decision
Almost five years of work has been fed into Mr McArthur’s campaign, alongside his duties as MSP for Orkney, the Lib Dems’ justice and climate spokesperson and one of two deputy presiding officers. He has lost around 5kg of weight in the last week as the work and associated stress took its toll mentally, as well as physically, on him, a source close to the MSP said.
Although assisted dying has been a free vote for MSPs not whipped by party machines, MSPs and insiders have revealed the work behind the scenes that led to the contentious legislation falling flat.
It is understood that First Minister John Swinney, in a private exchange, praised Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay for coming out in opposition to assisted dying ahead of the final vote for “doing the right thing” ,while the First Minister had been quietly appealing to his SNP colleagues who had backed the bill at stage one, to have a re-think.
In the end, Housing Minister Mairi McAllan and backbench MSPs Jamie Hepburn, Audrey Nicoll and Collette Stevenson were the SNP’s switchers.
For the Conservatives, Brian Whittle, Sharon Dowie, Alex Stewart and Miles Briggs joined Mr Findlay in changing their minds on the legislation.
Labour’s Daniel Johnson, Paul Sweeney and Martin Whitfield completed the cohort of assisted dying switchers, while Colin Smyth who is suspended and banned from Holyrood as he awaits criminal charges, did not and could not vote.
The co-ordinated cross-party effort on the No side of the debate has spearheaded by SNP deputy first minister Kate Forbes, Labour MSP Michael Marra and Tory MSP Edward Mountain.
One MSP who voted against the legislation said that “it felt like Liam had to do all the talking” on the opposite side of the debate.
The No campaign believed some speeches on the other side of the debate focused too much on general fears about death rather than the specific legislation, with Jamie Greene’s speech branded “utter drivel”.
The No MSP added: “It needed to be directed at people who had specific issues about things.
“If you have to move seven people, you find out what they are worried about and focus on that.
READ MORE: Charity warns end of life patients 'being written off' amid call for legal right to palliative care
“Are they making up their mind in the room? Probably not. But in essence, what else would be the point of your speech?
“If you want to win the vote, that’s who you are appealing to.”
Another No supporter said that “for people making up their minds at the end, it was more about whether these safeguards have gone far enough”.
Despite accusations of “dirty tactics” used by those opposing assisted dying, a source close to the Yes campaign suggested that any underhand strategy would have backfired in convincing MSPs to support the legislation.
They warned that the “opponents of the bill were desperate for this to get into a bun fight”.
The source admitted that there was “something to be said about getting more into the veneer of those who flipped” their allegiance from Yes to No.
“I don't see a way we could have done it differently”, the source added.
“If we had been more abrasive, the first time we talked about somebody scaremongering, you're then accused of dismissing concerns.”
Some of the allegations of dirty tactics were blamed on the Scottish government, which remained officially neutral on the legislation.
Despite that neutrality, some ministers raised concerns about the costs to the NHS if the legislation had been approved, despite not knowing how much it would potentially impact SNP ministers’ budget.
The First Minister issued a warning that the legislation would be “legislatively incompetent” without a so-called section 104 agreement, a mechanism that was has been used previously, including to allow pastors to opt out of Scotland’s equal marriage legislation, without problem.
“It was blatant scaremongering”, one MSP who supported the legislation said.
Another MSP who supported the bill said there had been “faux outrage” over the constitutional row.
Campaign group, Care not Killing, piled pressure on MSPs to oppose the bill and is part funded by Conservative religious pressure group Care (Christian Action, Research and Education) for Scotland, while controversial former SNP donor, Sir Brian Souter, has also funded the group.
Sir Brian, who stopped giving money to the SNP under Nicola Sturgeon, spent £1 million in 2000 on the campaign opposing the ban of the so-called section 28 that forbade local authorities from "intentionally promoting homosexuality".
Care, known for its opposition to abortion, sex education, gay marriage and broader LGBTQ+ rights, lobbied more than a dozen MSPs ahead of the final vote.
The lobbying, conducted by evangelical pastor Michael Veitch, included targeting nine MSPs who voted in favour of the legislation at stage one, with four of those - Jamie Hepburn, Miles Briggs, Paul Sweeney and Sharon Dowie - changing their minds.
One MSP who backed the legislation suggested they had had “bible verses quoted at them” by campaigners.
Another politician supportive of the bill had been named and shamed in their local church parish newsletter for backing the legislation.
It is unlikely the next Scottish Parliament will see an assisted dying bill tabled, but the issue will not go away. There is already talk about whether a referendum, a people’s assembly or even a government bill even if the administration does not back the principle, could be the answer. On another key issue, Scotland is well and truly divided.
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