CHRISTIAN VIEWPOINT: Bill on assisted dying - find out how our MP will vote
Angus MacDonald counted off the controversial issues on his fingers as we sat down. ‘Assisted dying, abortion…’
‘Yes,’ I interrupted. ‘But it’s much wider than that.’ I was meeting the new Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire constituency MP to discuss matters of Christian concern. I explained that moral issues such as ensuring society is just, fair and inclusive, and ensuring that poverty and its causes are alleviated are just as important.
Angus gets it. He belongs to a Lochaber family whose roots are many generations deep, part of the Scottish Catholicism which survived the Reformation. He was educated at the Benedictine Ampleforth College in Yorkshire. He is an active Christian, worshipping at St Mary’s Church in Arisaig.
Angus has been called ‘a social entrepreneur with a conscience’, and that conscience has been shaped by Catholic social teaching. He tells me about his commitment over the years to his local community as a business person. He describes his embrace of ‘venture philanthropy’, in the Moidart Trust which supports small business ventures, has built the Highland Cinema in Fort William and has funded church restoration projects, notably at the lovely St Mary and St Finnan’s Church in Glenfinnan.
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His work has been recognised: he was awarded an OBE in 2014 for services to the Highlands, and in 2021 he received a Papal Knighthood - bestowed for conspicuous services to the Catholic Church.
Having stepped back from his major business commitments, he turned to politics, serving his community as a Highland councillor and now his constituency as its MP.
Angus acknowledges and is supportive of the vital contribution of faith groups to social provision and care - he has already visited Inverness Foodstuff and the Salvation Army in the city.
At present, he is advocating on behalf of the care home sector to improve provision in the Highlands, and advocating also to ensure that the local community benefits from the development of renewable energy. This was the subject of his maiden speech in parliament in September.
We discussed the moral issues Angus listed, although legislation on most of these is devolved to the Scottish Parliament. His views accord with Christian thinking, and he is not afraid of expressing them as a Liberal Democrat politician - he speaks of other Christian Lib Dems such as Tim Farron and Charles Kennedy.
He has thought deeply about the Bill on assisted dying, which MPs will debate on November 29. MPs will be able to vote according to their conscience, and Angus will vote against the proposals.
• Why I will vote against assisted dying - Highland MP speaks out ahead of Westminster vote
Energetic, unstressed, likable, Angus MacDonald models a quiet Christian faith which is neither concealed, nor trumpeted. It seems to me that the ‘entrepreneur with a conscience’ is genuinely committed to the good of our community.
