News In Focus
11 February 2010
Parliament rejects MacDonald appeal over End of Life Bill procedure
Margo MacDonald's End of Life Choices (Scotland) Bill will go before an ad hoc committee of the Scottish Parliament after the independent MSP failed yesterday to have the chamber overturn the decision to send it there.
Mrs MacDonald wanted the bill to go before the Health Committee, chaired by SNP member Christine Grahame, a lawyer, which also has two doctors among its members. She alleged that the creation of the special committee was simply a tactic by opposition parties to prevent the convenership of the committee examining the SNP's Referendum Bill being taken by an SNP member, as convenerships of ad hoc committees are rotated round the parties.
But despite her speech warning the Parliament that its reputation would hang on their vote, the vote was 69-49 against her proposal, with the three main opposition parties combining to outvote the SNP and Greens.
Liberal Democrat Mike Rumbles, who proposed the successful motion, said it would be "dangerous" to allow an MSP to select which committee took charge of their bill and might be seen as them trying to gain advantage.