The case was made yesterday for parliament to hold a debate on the issue of assisted suicide in line with recent proposals by independent MSP Margo MacDonald.
The case was made yesterday for parliament to hold a debate on the issue of assisted suicide in line with recent proposals by independent MSP Margo MacDonald.
She launched a consultation on the issue and yesterday a petitioner launched a specific demand for a referendum on the subject.
George Anderson said: "I'm asking people, do they want help at the end of their lives if they want to get out of it. If Manchester can hold a referendum on traffic congestion charges, it will seem perverse if this place fails to treat assisted dying with less serious intention."
Mr Anderson said that, because assisted suicide is illegal in the UK, terminally ill people were being forced into exile - "like lepers were in medieval times".
He suggested that the number of people forced to travel to clinics in countries where assisted suicide is legal would increase as a result of the ageing UK population.
He told MSPs that this was "a phenomenon that can only increase if the demographics are to be believed and the laws of this country remain as they are".
MSPs on the committee agreed to raise his petition with the Scottish Government but they questioned the appropriateness of a referendum on assisted dying.
Bill Butler, the Labour MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, pointed out that referendums tended to be held on constitutional issues.
