MSPs are considering hundreds of proposed amendments to assisted suicide proposals after they were branded “dangerous and regressive” by campaigners.

The general principles of the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill tabled by Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur won the backing of the Scottish Parliament earlier this year, despite concerns being raised over the potential implications for people with disabilities and long-term illness.

The legislation has now entered its next phase, with Holyrood’s health committee mulling over nearly 300 proposed amendments, a number of which Mr McArthur tabled himself.

“Each amendment I have submitted underpins the Bill’s driving principles of safety, compassion and choice,” he said.

Unconvinced, the Better Way campaign’s Dr Miro Griffiths condemned the legislation as a “regressive and dangerous idea,” while arguing that “no number of amendments can make this deeply-flawed Bill safe.”

Dr Gordon Macdonald of Care Not Killing said: “The broad range of amendments covering every part of this Bill demonstrates just how deeply flawed it is.

“Scotland deserves legislation that protects its most at-risk citizens, not one that leaves them exposed. We urge MSPs to listen, scrutinise and reject this unsafe Bill.”