Bake Off star Dame Prue Leith backs Scots law change on assisted dying
Dame Prue Leith will tell an event at Holyrood how family experience has convinced her of the need to change the law
Last updated 21st Nov 2023
Great British Bake Off judge Dame Prue Leith will come to the Scottish Parliament today to explain why she is backing a bill which would legalise assisted dying for terminally ill Scots.
Dame Prue, who is patron of the Dignity in Dying charity, will share her reasons for supporting the law change after watching her brother dying from bone cancer.
She took part in a documentary - Prue and Danny's Death Road Trip - alongside her son, the Tory MP Danny Kruger, where they debated their opposing views while meeting people with lived experiences.
Holyrood members bill
The proposed Members Bill from Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur would give mentally competent adults with a terminal diagnosis the right to end their life if requested.
But Scots would not be able to opt for the procedure for any other reason, and safeguards would include independent assessments by two doctors.
Liam McArthur told Northsound 1 News: "Prue has person has person experience of the issue after watching her brother die a bad and painful death from bone cancer, and the documentary she and her son made earlier this year is a must-watch.
"I continue to work with parliamentary officials to complete the the draft of my bill which I hope to introduce to parliament soon. It will then be for my MSP colleagues to make up their minds.”
READ MORE: 3 out of 4 Scots back the change
Campaigners' fear for the vulnerable
Assisted dying critics have warned of danger from the legislative proposals.
Dr Gordon Macdonald, chief executive of Care Not Killing - a campaign spearheading the opposition to Mr McArthur's proposals - said: "The legislation of assisted suicide and euthanasia will put many vulnerable people at risk of abuse and coercion."
He said the Bake Off judge, while very much in favour of a law change, used her documentary to express she was "conflicted" by how the policy had evolved in Canada, where people report being offered the medical assistance in dying (Maid) because they cannot access the proper support they need, for example, in housing, mental health or poverty.
Dr Macdonald continued: "Put simply, it's impossible to have a safe system of medicalised killing and MSPs should reject Liam McArthur's dangerous and discriminatory proposals."
READ MORE: Why faith leaders oppose the assisted dying bill
International experience
Glaswegian Tina McCaffrey, who is now chief executive of Totara Hospice in New Zealand where terminally ill patients can access assisted dying, will join the Bake Off judge on the panel, as well as Luke Johnston-Smith, who has shared his journey with terminal blood cancer.
Mr McArthur said he hopes the trio can "demonstrate the importance of giving Scots a choice over how they die".