INDEPENDENT Lothians MSP Margo MacDonald today announced she had secured the necessary backing to go ahead with a new Bill to permit assisted suicide.
And she claimed recent cases south of the border meant there was greater awareness of the issue than when her previous attempt to change the law was rejected in 2010.
Ms MacDonald wants people who find their lives intolerable due to a terminal illness or condition to have the legal right to ask for help to end their own life.
She needed the signatures of 18 MSPs if her new Bill was to proceed. Often, members’ Bills take several weeks to attract the required support. But she said she had been able to put forward the 18 names at the same time as formally lodging the proposal at Holyrood.
Among those who have given their signatures are Edinburgh SNP MSPs Marco Biagi and Jim Eadie, Lothians Labour MSP Kezia Dugdale and Lothians Green MSP Alison Johnstone.
Ms MacDonald said: “Possibly due to the recent sad and shocking coverage of how Tony Nicklinson died, MSPs have a better awareness of the issue.
“Also, like last time, a couple of the MSPs signed to take the Bill to Stage 1, not because they had already made up their minds on the issue, but because they judged that it should be debated given the level of public interest.”
Ms MacDonald conducted a consultation on her plans and received 848 responses, with around 35 per cent in favour. But Ms MacDonald noted that of the 512 individual responses against the proposal, 165 repeated arguments raised by campaign websites.
Now she has the required support, she hopes the Bill can be published around February next year.