LIB DEM MSP Liam McArthur is “confident” his assisted dying Bill will pass its final Holyrood hurdle in the new year, despite the tabling of nearly 300 amendments and campaigners warning of its “unsolvable problems.”

The Scottish Parliament backed the general principles of the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill by 70 votes to 56 back in May 2025, passing the task of scrutinising it and the 287 proposed amendments on to Holyrood’s health committee.

That process complete, the Bill is now set to go back to Holyrood in March for a final decision, yet frontbenchers such as SNP Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes, Labour’s Michael Marra and Tory Edward Mountain have come out against it.

Mr McArthur said: “I am confident that still a majority of my MSP colleagues support a change in the law.”

Arguing the final amending stage could give parliamentarians the chance to make changes to the Bill “they feel are appropriate,” he added: “The proposals have been subject to lengthy consultation.

“The drafting of the Bill took the best part of 18 months, the scrutiny process through the health and social care committee was painstaking, a detailed report prepared on that, a lengthy process of stage two amendments considered and further stage three amendments to come in the new year.

“I can’t think of a Bill that has been subject to quite as much scrutiny as this Bill.”

Dr Miro Griffiths, of the Better Way campaign against the Bill, regarded the hundreds of amendments as “a negative, not a positive,” noting: “It shows that parliamentarians still lack confidence in the Bill.

“Many serious issues were identified at stage two and not addressed.

“This compounds the challenge MSPs will face at the next stage — they will have to grapple with dozens if not hundreds more potential changes to a Bill that has life-or-death consequences for Scots.”

Pointing out “unsolvable problems in the assisted suicide Bill,” he warned: “There is nothing that could rule out people being coerced into ending their lives, either behind closed doors in an abusive situation or through societal pressure that arises from a lack of support.

“There is nothing to prevent mission creep in legislation in years to come that makes Scotland’s law even more permissive.”