SCOTLAND will not introduce assisted dying after Holyrood voted against legalisation.

Members of the Scottish parliament voted by 69 votes to 57 against the plan, tabled by Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur, on Tuesday night.

His Bill would have allowed terminally ill, mentally competent adults to seek medical help to end their lives.

Following an emotionally charged final debate, the Bill was defeated by 69 votes to 57.

Opponents raised fears of people being coerced into an assisted death.

Independent MSP Jeremy Balfour, born with no left arm and a right arm that ends at the elbow, said disabled people were “terrified” of assisted dying legislation.

“I’m begging you to consider the consequences for the most vulnerable,” he said.

Independent Pam Duncan-Glancy, who uses a wheelchair, urged MSPs to “choose to make it easier to live than to die” while the SNP’s Ruth Maguire said: “It’s not a free choice if you do not have access to good palliative care.”

The MSP, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2021, added that her “blood runs cold thinking about sitting in a room in hospital and having a doctor raise assisted dying with me as we weigh up treatment options,” she told parliament.

But Mr McArthur accused those who rejected the Bill of a “woefully inadequate response to the suffering and trauma experienced by dying Scots and their families.”

He made several changes to his Bill in a bid to win over MSPs, including limiting eligibility to those with less than six months to live.

Mr McArthur said: “As a growing number of countries and states around the world, including Jersey and the Isle of Man, are proving there is another way we can and must do better.

“This is the change that dying Scots desperately need us to take.”

Conservative MSP Sandesh Gulhane, an NHS GP, cited testimony from a patient who told him “you wouldn’t let a dog die like this,” calling for action to stop people ending their lives “alone, scared, in agonising pain.”

MSPs were granted a free vote on the proposals, meaning they were not whipped to vote along party lines.

While the government was neutral on the Bill, First Minister John Swinney opposed it and declared himself “relieved.”

Ally Thompson, of Dignity in Dying, said she was “hugely disappointed” but Dr Gordon MacDonald of Care Not Killing expressed relief.

“We believe the Bill posed serious risks to the most vulnerable in society — including disabled people and those suffering from domestic abuse,” he said.