In years to come Thursday 27th May 2015 will be known by many as a very sad day for democracy.

It was not only the day that the Scottish Parliament threw out the Assisted Suicide bill but also that democracy failed.

I, with many others who sat through the debate, were quite flabbergasted by some of the contributions made by MSP’s who were against the bill.

It was obvious that they had either failed to read the Bill or were incapable of understanding it. In particular John Mason, who suggested that as money gets tighter the accountants in local authorities would put pressure on social work staff to coerce clients to go for assisted suicide.

This was just absolute rubbish and an appalling contribution to the debate because it was misleading and misinformed. Others suggested that doctors would be forced to participate in assisted suicide against their Hippocratic oath. Again this was wrong and pure scaremongering.

This was a free vote for all MSP’s and there was no party whip involved.

Democracy took a turn for the worst when in the last 15 minutes of the three hour debate at least 30% of MSP’s decided to turn up and vote on this important issue without having been present to hear the arguments.

Although opinion polls put support for assisted suicide in Scotland at around 70%, the MSP’s voted 36 for and 85 against. Is that what democracy looks like?

RUDI VOGELS, Barassie Drive, Kirkcaldy.