The Scottish Parliament voted firmly last night to reject Liam McArthur’s Assisted Dying bill. It’s the third time legislation such as this has been defeated in the devolved era. Mr McArthur now says he’ll continue the struggle.

On the day a politician tried to impose a culture of death on Scotland, we were reminded once more of the state’s contempt for the living. A year after the country’s first drug consumption facility was opened, we learned that deaths from addiction in Scotland have risen by 8%.

When Scotland was first revealed to be the drug death capital of Europe, the outrage and sense of national shame dominated the national conversation for months. Now, we have become so numb to their effect that we simply shrug, look down and shuffle away. The annual increases in premature deaths of our most vulnerable people is one of the Scottish Government’s most catastrophic failures.

Last year, they were offered the chance to remedy this by passing the Right to Recovery Bill. Instead, the SNP and the Bearsden Bolsheviks in the Scottish Greens chose to reward the addiction quangos and the sprawling executive class that feeds on them.

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Many of those who had voted in favour of Mr McArthur’s bill were responsible for killing the Right to Recovery bill. There’s grim symmetry in this. The addiction death numbers laid bare how the professional hand-wringers at Holyrood really view Scotland’s marginalised people. By choosing to allow them to keep themselves topped up with Class A narcotics the Scottish Government tells them that their lives, quite literally, are worthless. This was underscored a few months later when many of them chose to reject Ash Regan’s Prostitution Bill.

The people whom these laws would have protected are those most at risk of feeling worthless. They have no advocates. There’s no one to tell them that they’re valued and worthy of love in a country which denies them basic support and protection. As such, they’d have been among those most at risk of Liam McArthur’s icy tap on the shoulder.

Within minutes of his suicide bill being rejected by Holyrood, a nauseating narrative began predictably to emerge. You’d better get used to it. This was Holyrood at its finest, we’ll be told. The contributions from the floor were sensitive and thoughtful. It was so, so emotional. Look at the nice, kind politicians: people in their families get sick and die too. Bless them.

Let’s be honest here: there was little that was uplifting about this at all. It was a sickening display of narcissistic exceptionalism. A cohort of affluent, middle-class actors seeking group hugs and sympathy by weaponising the deaths of their loved ones to make a bad law that would principally target those with none of their choices and privileges.

And besides: how heartfelt can it be when you can’t speak about it without recourse to notes that have been diced and spliced by the party advisory? Do they think the pain of seeing their family members’ dying occurs at a level above and beyond that endured by millions of families without the resources and funds to choose a neat and tidy, pre-packed death?

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In other countries where Assisted Dying has swollen to become a state-sponsored instrument of eugenics, the feeling of being a burden on your family and society has featured heavily in those seeking death. Those living in multi-deprivation, or who feel dehumanised by a violent partner (usually male) are especially vulnerable to these feelings.

Those living with the reality of mental and physical impairment also face jeopardy. When cost considerations are factored into our valuation of human life, the vulnerable and infirm, especially those with no-one to speak for them, begin to feel that their existence is subject to the approval of the state.

The Glasgow Disability Alliance, like all the other groups representing disabled people, opposed this bill. They said it would “mark a huge change in society and create an existential threat to disabled people”.

If you’re inclined to join the adulation and emotionalism about how our MSPs conducted themselves last night, consider this: 57 of them chose to disregard the lived experience and fears of Scotland’s disabled community and voted instead for a primitive bill that would have made these people feel less human.

If you encounter any of these 57 during the Scottish election, feel free to quiz them on this. Most of them will talk about social justice and health inequality and homelessness and child poverty during their hustings events. Ask them how they reconcile this with their eagerness to back legislation which would, inevitably, come for those living the reality of such conditions.

The arrogance of LibDem MSP Liam McArthur became a factor in the failure of his bill. In his overweening confidence he and his supporters rejected qualifications that might have made it palatable, such as provisions for conscientious objection of healthcare professionals or specialist training in identifying coercion. Hospices and care homes would not be permitted to opt out from offering suicide.

This betrayed the fundamental inhumanity at the root of Mr McArthur’s bill. Some Christian churches operate several of these facilities, representing a significant cost saving to the state. He and his supporters would rather see these shut down than countenance any resistance to the state’s diktat.

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Those hoping that Scotland can now concentrate on improving palliative care for those approaching the end of their lives are kidding themselves. This country’s ruling elite have consistently refused to help the living who are suffering the ravages of addiction and women driven into prostitution by poverty and male cruelty.

Do you really think that the Scottish Greens and the SNP will spend money on helping those at the end of their lives? Behave yourselves. Assisted Dying was always an attractive, cost-effective alternative than having to spend money on people they loathed when they were in good health.

I pity Liam McArthur. What a bleak existence he must lead. Imagine studying hard to gain your honours degree at one of the world’s finest universities and then labouring for years to persuade the public that you’ll serve their needs better than your opponents. And when you become a decision-maker in your country’s legislative chamber, you dedicate five years of your life to this desolate and barren undertaking.

Mr McArthur has pledged to continue his campaign. I would entreat him instead to use his talents and privileges improving the lives of the living, especially those lacking influence, money and basic human dignity.

Kevin McKenna is Scotland's Feature Writer of the Year

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