Plans to legalise ‘assisted dying’ in Scotland have been rejected by the Scottish Parliament.

MSPs voted by 69 to 57 to throw out the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill, with one abstention, after several who previously supported it switched sides.

They were given a free vote on the Bill, meaning they could act in line with their consciences and were not whipped by their parties.

The Bill, tabled by Liberal Democrat Liam McArthur, would have given mentally competent people over 18 who have been diagnosed with a terminal condition the right to die by euthanasia.

Pro-Life groups welcomed the vote as a “major victory for the most vulnerable in our society”.

“After two years of debate, and the most intense scrutiny that the question of assisted suicide has ever received in Scotland, Holyrood, widely regarded as one of the world’s most socially and politically progressive legislatures, has come to the conclusion that introducing assisted suicide is unsafe and dangerous”, said Right to Life UK.

They added that it settled the issue in Scotland “for a generation” and likely struck “a mortal blow” to the assisted suicide Bill in Westminster.