Member

The view of the Government is that, properly analysed, the first matter—the regulation of medicines—is fundamental to the operation of any assisted dying regime. In contrast, the other two matters are not fundamental: our analysis is that they can be dealt with once the Bill has passed, if indeed it does. The relevance and importance of the distinction is that it is the assessment of this Government and the Scottish Government that it is necessary for MSPs to know all the fundamental elements of a regime before they can responsibly vote for it. This means that they need a mechanism that allows clarity on the reserved issue before the Bill passes.