The Scottish parliament has voted against legalising assisted dying after critics and religious groups led a concerted campaign to block the measures.
The UK and Scottish governments, which were officially neutral on the proposals, agreed earlier this year to a section 30 order which has given Scotland the powers normally controlled by Westminster to use legally restricted drugs and equipment. Those powers came into force on 11 March.
Rona Mackay, the SNP’s chief whip, urged MSPs to back the bill. “We in this chamber have a choice. Terminally ill people who are terrified of what they may face at the end of their lives do not. Who are we to deny them that choice,” she said.
“We know that many terminally ill Scots face a bad death and are forced to contemplate a series of desperate, traumatic decisions. Decisions which do not belong in a compassionate 21st-century Scotland.”