Interview: Liam McArthur MSP
Podlitical
BBC
4.6 • 157 Ratings
🗓️ 26 March 2024
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP on legalising assisted dying and representing Orkney. Liam McArthur joins Podlitical to discuss his upcoming bill on assisted dying for the terminally ill being presented at Holyrood, why he thinks a ban is unsustainable, and why he believes once a framework for assisted dying is in place we'll realise it was "long past due". McArthur also discusses the unique parts of representing a remote island constituency like Orkney, how he feels that local government has been "emasculated", and how he thinks perspectives in politics have become more binary.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds |
| 0:02.4 | You're listening to BBC Scotland |
| 0:09.6 | Hi, you're listening to Podlitical BBC Scotland's podcast |
| 0:16.7 | That brings you an inside look at the big stories coming out of Hollywood and Westminster. |
| 0:22.3 | It is 10 past 3, just coming up to 10 past 3 on Tuesday the 26th of March. |
| 0:27.2 | I'm Georgia Roberts, Westminster correspondent for BBC Scotland, |
| 0:30.3 | and we've got for you today another one of our interview episodes. |
| 0:35.0 | And joining me today, I'm very pleased pleased to say is Liam MacArthur, Scottish Liberal |
| 0:39.4 | Democrat MSP for Orkney. Liam, welcome. Thank you. Good afternoon. Good afternoon. So big week for you |
| 0:46.6 | and potentially the country of course, your bill to legalise a sister dying for the terminally ill in |
| 0:53.3 | Scotland is in Parliament on Thursday. So we'll talk more |
| 0:57.9 | about that in a short while. But first, I just wanted to dive a bit into your background and talk |
| 1:04.8 | a little bit about Orkney. It's a fascinating part of the country. So you moved to Orkney around 10 years old, wasn't it, from Edinburgh? |
| 1:13.1 | So, you know, kind of either end of the extremes, isn't it, in terms of location? |
| 1:17.6 | It must have been a huge change for you. |
| 1:18.9 | What was that like? |
| 1:20.0 | Yeah, it was. |
| 1:20.7 | I was brought up in Stockbridge in Edinburgh, and we lived in the new town of Edinburgh. |
| 1:27.0 | And around the age of nine my parents |
| 1:30.2 | announced that we were moving to Ortony. My dad had long hankered after a life fishing. He'd been |
| 1:38.7 | brought up around boats, had helped build one with his own dad and I think he'd always had in the |
| 1:43.8 | back of his mind that this is what he'd always had in the back of his mind |
... |
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