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Legal Matters
Scotland
Swinney opposes assisted dying legislation

First Minister John Swinney has publicly declared his opposition to the Assisted Dying Bill, which is set for a vote in Holyrood next week. Swinney, whose wife has multiple sclerosis, said his own family perspective played a part in his decision. He said the latest proposals have been carefully put together and improved. But he added that the law would "fundamentally alter" the relationship between doctors and their patients "in an irrevocable and detrimental fashion." Liam McArthur, the MSP steering the proposals through parliament, said: "Given John Swinney’s position on this issue in the past, I have always been aware that I was unlikely to win his support. Nevertheless, I would like to thank him for his considered approach, the time he has taken to discuss the issue with me and his recognition that in this vote he does not speak for his party but solely on a personal basis." Meanwhile, the Church of Scotland is set to end centuries of opposition to assisted dying, with plans to become the first major UK denomination to adopt a neutral stance on the issue. An expert panel has advised that the church's annual general assembly, beginning on May 17, should accept that Christian arguments supporting assisted dying are as legitimate as those opposing it on theological grounds.

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