Scottish and Northern Irish MPs help to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales

This week, the British Parliament passed the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill by 314 votes to 291, legalising assisted dying in England and Wales.

Eagle eyed readers might have noticed something isn’t quite right with those numbers: 605 MPs voted on the Bill but there are only 584 MPs representing English and Welsh constituencies.

There are 57 MPs representing Scottish constituencies and 53 of them voted on the Bill whilst 7 of Northern Ireland’s 18 MPs voted on it.

The official record shows a majority of 23 votes in favour of assisted dying in England and Wales but excluding MPs who don’t represent English and Welsh constituencies increases that majority to 43 votes.

The Campaign for an English Parliament has no position on assisted dying but does have a position on MPs from Scotland and Northern Ireland voting on matters that are devolved in their countries. It is fundamentally undemocratic to have politicians no voter in England and Wales can hold to account making laws for England and Wales that are devolved elsewhere in the UK.

What makes MPs in Scotland voting on this Bill even more unacceptable is that there is currently legislation making its way through the Scottish Parliament to legalise assisted dying there which, of course, Scottish MPs can’t vote on. The argument that Scottish people could come to England or Wales for an assisted death means that Scottish MPs have a legitimate interest in this devolved matter falls down when you consider that English and Welsh people could travel to Scotland for an assisted death if the Scottish legislation is passed yet British MPs have no vote on it.

If England had a parliament of its own with at least the same powers as the Scottish Parliament, MPs elected in Scotland and Northern Ireland wouldn’t have been able to vote on such an important matter of conscience in England.

Here is a list of every MP for a Scottish or Northern Irish constituency that voted on assisted dying for England and Wales:

Name	Constituency	Country	Party	Vote
Hannah Bardell	Livingston	Scotland	SNP	Aye
Mhairi Black	Paisley and Renfrewshire South	Scotland	SNP	No
Steven Bonnar	Coatbridge and Bellshill	Scotland	SNP	Aye
Deidre Brock	Edinburgh North and Leith	Scotland	SNP	Aye
Alan Brown	Kilmarnock and Loudoun	Scotland	SNP	Aye
Amy Callaghan	East Dunbartonshire	Scotland	SNP	Aye
Douglas Chapman	Dunfermline and West Fife	Scotland	SNP	Aye
Joanna Cherry	Edinburgh South West	Scotland	SNP	Aye
Wendy Chamberlain	North East Fife	Scotland	Liberal Democrat	Both*
Ronnie Cowan	Inverclyde	Scotland	SNP	Aye
Angela Crawley	Lanark and Hamilton East	Scotland	SNP	Aye
Martyn Day	Linlithgow and East Falkirk	Scotland	SNP	Aye
Martin Docherty-Hughes	West Dunbartonshire	Scotland	SNP	Aye
Dave Doogan	Angus	Scotland	SNP	Aye
David Duguid	Banff and Buchan	Scotland	Conservative	No
Marion Fellows	Motherwell and Wishaw	Scotland	SNP	Aye
Stephen Flynn	Aberdeen South	Scotland	SNP	No
Patricia Gibson	North Ayrshire and Arran	Scotland	SNP	Aye
Patrick Grady	Glasgow North	Scotland	SNP	Aye
Peter Grant	Glenrothes	Scotland	SNP	Aye
Drew Hendry	Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire	Scotland	SNP	Aye
Stewart Hosie	Dundee East	Scotland	SNP	Aye
Alister Jack	Dumfries and Galloway	Scotland	Conservative	No
Christine Jardine	Edinburgh West	Scotland	Liberal Democrat	Aye
Richard Lochhead	Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey	Scotland	SNP	Aye
John Lamont	Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk	Scotland	Conservative	No
Kenny MacAskill	East Lothian	Scotland	Alba	No
Stuart McDonald	Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East	Scotland	SNP	Aye
Stewart McDonald	Glasgow South	Scotland	SNP	Aye
Anne McLaughlin	Glasgow North East	Scotland	SNP	Aye
John McNally	Falkirk	Scotland	SNP	Aye
Carol Monaghan	Glasgow North West	Scotland	SNP	Aye
Ian Murray	Edinburgh South	Scotland	Labour	Aye
Brendan O’Hara	Argyll and Bute	Scotland	SNP	Aye
Kirsten Oswald	East Renfrewshire	Scotland	SNP	Aye
Anum Qaisar	Airdrie and Shotts	Scotland	SNP	No
Tommy Sheppard	Edinburgh East	Scotland	SNP	Aye
Chris Stephens	Glasgow South West	Scotland	SNP	Aye
Alison Thewliss	Glasgow Central	Scotland	SNP	No
Richard Thomson	Gordon	Scotland	SNP	Aye
Owen Thompson	Midlothian	Scotland	SNP	Aye
Philippa Whitford	Central Ayrshire	Scotland	SNP	Aye
Martin Whitfield	East Lothian	Scotland	Labour	Aye
Douglas Ross	Moray	Scotland	Conservative	No
Colum Eastwood	Foyle	Northern Ireland	SDLP	Aye
Carla Lockhart	Upper Bann	Northern Ireland	DUP	No
Jim Shannon	Strangford	Northern Ireland	DUP	No
Sammy Wilson	East Antrim	Northern Ireland	DUP	No
Ian Paisley Jr	North Antrim	Northern Ireland	DUP	No
Robin Millar	North Down	Northern Ireland	UUP	No
Jim Allister	North Antrim	Northern Ireland	TUV	No