The cost of the staff member was split between:
Dignity in Dying UK.
Friends at the End.
Humanist Society, Scotland.
(The first two are registered with the Parliament as Lobbying Organisations.)
Dying in Dignity’s Westminster affair!
Many are aware of the massive lobbying and PR program across England, Ireland and Scotland, bankrolled by Dignity in Dying with the aim of legalising Assisted Suicide.
For example, they put on a wee bash in Westminster recently for British MPs and Peers.
Delightful! >>>>>>>>
SCOTLAND
In the Scottish Parliament, the main promoter of assisted suicide is Liam McArthur, MSP for the Orkney Islands. [MSP: Member of the Scottish Parliament] He is due to release his Members Bill on assisted suicide.
In 2022 McArthur formally registered an ‘interest’ with the Scottish Parliament that 3 organisations had funded an additional staff member for him — to the tune of £26,250. This staff member was to develop the Members Bill on Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults. (Documentation below.)
CODE OF CONDUCT
McArthur is a Deputy Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament so he should know the Code of Conduct for MSP’s in detail.
In Section 4: ‘Paid advocacy’ there is an exclusion which allows financial assistance to a member for the preparation of a Member’s Bill:
“5. Section 14(3) of the Act describes the kinds of assistance which members may receive, agree to receive or request without being in breach of the paid advocacy provisions. Those provisions do not apply to—
- assistance provided to a member in the preparation of a Member’s Bill,”
This means that McArthur may receive funds for an additional staff member under this section. There are other considerations such as lobbying and access to an MSP.
SECTION 5: Lobbying and access to MSPs
Two of the three organisations which funded this staff member are registered lobbying organisations.
(Dignity in Dying lobbying registration.)
(Friends at the End lobbying registration.)
Considering how the Humanist Society Scotland provided significant financial support to an MSP, someone needs to explain why it is not a registered lobbying organisation.
Below are the relevant clauses from Section 5:
“3. The public must be assured that no person or organisation will gain better access to, or treatment by, any member as a result of employing a commercial lobbyist either as a representative or to provide strategic advice. In particular, a member should not offer or accord preferential access or treatment to commercial lobbyists or their employers. Nor should commercial lobbyists or their employers be given to understand that preferential access or treatment might be forthcoming from an MSP or group or person within or connected with the Parliament.
7. - should decline all but the most insignificant or incidental hospitality, benefit or gift if the member is aware that it is offered by a commercial lobbyist. The section of the Code on General Conduct states that a member should not accept any offer that might reasonably be thought to influence the member’s judgement in carrying out Parliamentary duties.”
The payment for the additional staff member appears to have given Dignity in Dying (et al.) “better access to, or treatment by” McArthur “as a result of that sponsored employment.”
McArthur will likely claim that he did not give any “preferential access or treatment” to these organisations and that the staff member worked under his direction alone. Perhaps that is the case — but, as stated in Clause 7, he “should not accept any offer that might reasonably be thought to influence the member’s judgement in carrying out Parliamentary duties.” The fact that Dignity in Dying and others groups sponsored the staff member to develop the assisted suicide legislation, would ‘reasonably be thought’ to have influenced McArthur’s judgement.
The Fox in the Hen-House
Even if there was no infringement of the Code, it stinks how Dignity in Dying and these other agencies sponsored the person who developed McArthur’s Bill for assisted suicide — the fox was really in the Scottish Parliament’s hen-house.
Scots who believe that McArthur breached the Code of Conduct for MSP’s can complain to: The Commissioner for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland. (Ethical Standards Commissioner, Thistle House, 91 Haymarket Terrace, Edinburgh. EH12 5HE. Phone: 0131 347 3890 email: info@ethicalstandards.org.uk )
People in Ireland, England and Wales should wonder which representatives and public figures are being paid by Dignity in Dying to support the introduction of assisted suicide.
Kevin Hay
(You can follow Kevin on Twitter @kevinhay77)
