PM against suicide law change

The cardinal is a guest editor of the Today programme

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said he is opposed to any change in the law on assisted dying.

In a interview with Cardinal Murphy O'Connor for BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Brown was unequivocal in his opposition to assisted suicide.

He told the head of the Catholic church in England and Wales he would not bring forward legislation that put pressure on people to end their lives.

His comments follow recent cases where the law has been brought into question.

Human life

During the interview, Mr Brown warned if it were allowed in the UK, then some elderly people might find themselves under pressure to agree to it because they did not want to become a burden on their families.

He also told the cardinal, a guest editor on the Today programme, that the importance of human life had to be recognised and maintained.

It is illegal in the UK to aid and abet a suicide and anyone convicted faces up to 14 years in prison.

However, in Switzerland, home of suicide charity Dignitas, it is legal, provided it has not been carried out for a profit.

More than 100 Britons are thought to have travelled to Switzerland to die at the clinic.

There have so far been no prosecutions of their relatives, but the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has carried out investigations.

Earlier this month, no charges were brought against the parents of Daniel James who died at Dignitas.

The 23-year-old, from Worcester, was paralysed in a rugby accident and ended his life in September even though he was not terminally ill.

Legal challenge

In October, a woman suffering from multiple sclerosis lost her High Court attempt to clarify UK law on assisted suicide.

Debbie Purdy, 45, from Bradford, has suggested that in the future she may want to travel to Dignitas to die.

She wants her husband by her side and sought clarification on whether he will be prosecuted on his return home.

But two senior judges said the current guidelines were adequate and did not require clarification.

It is not the first time the issue has been raised in the courts.

In 2001 Diane Pretty, who had motor neurone disease, failed to get immunity from prosecution for her husband if he helped her to die in the UK.