Religious leaders: Assisted dying is wrong

Religious leaders have called legalised assisted suicide "wrong", ahead of today's Lords debate on the assisted dying for the terminally ill bill.

Today the archbishop of Canterbury joined the chief rabbi and the head of the Catholic church in a letter to the Times opposing the bill.

They wrote: "We believe that all human life is sacred and God-given with a value that is inherent, not conditional.

"We urge legislators to withhold support for this bill so as to ensure that British law continues to safeguard the principle that the intention to kill, or assist in the killing, of an innocent human being is wrong."

They warned the bill would put pressure on patients to die, and decisions might be influenced by economic considerations.

Any change in law would "irrevocably change the delicate relationship of trust between patient and doctor", they said, and urged the government instead to "recognise the need for greater funding for palliative care".