“MANY uncertainties” remain over the cost to NHS of introducing assisted suicide, Health Secretary Neil Gray has told MSPs.

Despite amendments to Lib Dem MSP Liam McArthur’s Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill being voted on next week and the Bill facing its final hurdle on March 17, Mr Gray said it was “difficult at this stage” to quantify its effects on health budgets.

The comments came in response to a Tory opponent on the Bill, Edward Mountain, who suggested the cost could be “tens of millions of pounds” and asked the Health Secretary: “What group of patients will lose out on their care to fund this Bill?”

With no answer forthcoming, a Labour opponent of the Bill, Michael Marra, warned that Parliament was “about to vote on the most significant legislation of this session” while “fundamental details of the cost and implementation remain unclear.”

But Mr McArthur pointed to evidence from Australia to argue that such legislation “does not lead to cuts in service” and went on to argue that it could operate “hand in hand with increased investment in and access to palliative care.”

In an apparent echo of Mr Marra’s concerns, Mr Gray, whose government is neutral on the Bill and will allow a free vote among Cabinet and ministers, told MSPs of the “challenges of accurately estimating the costs of delivering this Bill, particularly given that at this stage the Bill does not set out a model of delivery.”

Setting aside the financial questions in the debate, however, he said that “ultimately this is a conscience decision for MSPs to take,” adding: “Parliament’s decision should be on the merits or challenges of assisted dying, rather than any other consideration.”