THE new assisted dying bill has a better chance of being passed than the two failed attempts made by the late Margo MacDonald, according to her widower.

SNP veteran Jim Sillars also told the Sunday National it was “a pity” it had taken so long for the issue to come back before the Scottish Parliament.

He said MacDonald, who died in 2014 of Parkinson’s disease, knew the chances of her assisted dying bills being passed were slim but she wanted to put the controversial subject on the parliamentary agenda. He added that the new bill, launched by Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur, was narrower than his late wife’s, as it referred only to those medically assessed to be terminally ill and mentally competent.

“So it should have a better chance of getting in and I hope that parliamentary opinion has changed since Margo’s time,” he said.

“Public opinion has never really changed at all. Margo’s bills were supported overwhelmingly by public opinion and this one is in exactly the same position.”

However he said the bill’s sponsors would face the same arguments that MacDonald had to deal with.

“One is theological that all life is precious and therefore there should not be an artificial ending to it,” said Sillars. “It is not a theological argument that Margo would have accepted and I certainly don’t accept it. If you take the theological argument of a just war, the fact is that however just the war, it involves killing people on the other side so I don’t think the theological argument can stand.

“The other argument is going to be much more difficult for the sponsors of the bill because it will come from the palliative care societies saying that palliative care is the best way to deal with people in terminal cases. To an extent that is true if a person chooses palliative care but if a person doesn’t choose palliative care then what is the alternative for them? The alternative is assisted dying.”

McArthur said he believed Scots should have the right to “safe and compassionate assisted dying if they choose, rather than endure a prolonged and painful death”, adding that the current blanket ban “causes needless suffering”.

Almost nine out of 10 Scots (87%) are said to support the introduction of such legislation, according to McArthur, and a cross party group of MSPs have already signalled their support.

The group, which includes Green co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater, argues Scotland needs to change its laws so that those who are terminally ill can “be assured of dignified death”.

“The current law does not work and should be replaced with a safe and compassionate new law that gives dying people the rights they need to have a good death at a time that is right for them,” said the group. “We know there is a problem and it is incumbent upon us to provide a solution.”

McArthur’s bill is also supported by Dignity In Dying Scotland, Friends At The End and the Humanist Society Scotland.

McArthur said: “I have long believed that dying Scots should be able to access safe and compassionate assisted dying if they choose, rather than endure a prolonged and painful death. The current blanket ban on such assistance is unjust and causes needless suffering for so many dying people and their families across Scotland.”

However, a coalition of nearly 200 medical professionals in Scotland have voiced “great concern” over the bill. So far, 175 Scottish health care professionals have joined the campaign launched against it by Our Duty of Care (ODOC) and have signed a letter to Health Secretary Humza Yousaf with their concerns.

Signatories to the letter include David Galloway, the recently retired consultant surgeon and previous president of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in Glasgow, and Marie Fallon, Professor of Palliative Medicine at the University of Edinburgh.

THE bill is the third on the subject to come before Parliament and follows MacDonald’s second attempt launched in 2013 which was eventually voted down by 86 votes to 36 with those opposing claiming it had “significant flaws”.

Her previous bill in 2010 was defeated by 85 votes to 16 with two abstentions.

On launching her second bid she said: I decided as soon as we lost the last one that I had to get a better one and reintroduce it, because so many people think this is the right thing to do for people who have a progressive, degenerative condition who are facing a less than dignified end.

“And people who are terminally ill, if they want to go just a bit sooner, they should be able to choose to do so without making anyone subject to prosecution.”

MSPs were again given a free vote for MacDonald’s second bill which was taken up by the Greens’ Patrick Harvie after her death.