Scottish Conference to debate our Assisting Dying motion.
THE ASSISTED DYING DEBATE
Great news! Our Assisted Dying motion will be debated by Scottish Liberal Democrats during the Scottish LibDem Conference in Aberdeen, Friday 20th to Sunday 22nd of March 2015.
The motion is on Compassion, Dignity and Choice at the End of Life, and it calls for assisted dying to be made legal in Scotland for the terminally ill, in limited circumstances and (of course) with strong safeguards. The Federal party's excellent existing policy on Assisted Dying covers England and Wales; if the motion is carried at Conference, we will also have a party policy for Scotland.
The motion was submitted by HSLD Chair Gary McLelland, and will be proposed by Liam McArthur MSP and summated by Jeremy Purvis. It's particularly timely and important as the Assisted Suicide (Scotland) Bill is currently working its way through the Scottish Parliament.
You can find the full text of the motion on page 16 of the preliminary agenda . The final agenda should be published in the next week or two.
THE EXHIBITION STANDS
Along with our first-ever Scottish Conference motion, we'll be running our first-ever Scottish Conference stand in the exhibition.
Humanist Society Scotland will also be there, as well as My Life, My Death, My Choice, which campaigns for the Assisted Suicide (Scotland) Bill.
THE FRINGE MEETING
No, we're not holding a fringe meeting at Scottish Conference - but My Life, My Death, My Choice are, at 5.30pm on Saturday 29th March.
The meeting will be chaired by Liam McArthur, and the panel will include Rev. Scott Rennie (Church of Scotland) and Tim Maguire (Humanist Society Scotland).
If you're a Scottish party member, please do register for Scottish Conference, support our motion, come to our stand, go to the fringe meeting - and have a great Conference.
If you'd like to help in any way (but especially if you could give a little time to staff our stand), Gary would love to hear from you, on 0781 3060713 or by email.
Finally, if you're not an HSLD member yet, please do take this opportunity to sign up! To check your membership status, just contact Toby Keynes on 020 8405 9816 or by email.