Campaigners who want a change in the law to allow assistance for terminally ill people to end their lives yesterday welcomed the intervention of Independent MSP Margo MacDonald after she spoke at a Holyrood debate about her fight with Parkinson�s disease.

Campaigners who want a change in the law to allow assistance for terminally ill people to end their lives yesterday welcomed the intervention of Independent MSP Margo MacDonald after she spoke at a Holyrood debate about her fight with Parkinson's disease.

The veteran MSP told colleagues she would want a legal right to die should her condition deteriorate into the worst form of the disease.

Her moving testimony came during a members' debate called by LibDem MSP Jeremy Purvis who restated his view that the law should be changed to allow terminally ill people to be allowed to ask for assistance to die.

During the debate, Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon echoed comments made by Alex Salmond last year, say- ing that individual parliamentary committees were free to hold an inquiry on "end-of-life issues" if they wished.

Members of the public and other interested parties could officially offer their views if conveners agreed MSPs' requests for a parliamentary committee inquiry, the results of which could go on to shape future legislation.

Alice Watson, of Friends at the End, a society that promotes information about end-of-life choices and dignified death and which wants a change in the law on assisted suicide, said yesterday: "We are delighted that Margo MacDonald said what she did although, of course, I am very sorry that she has Parkinson's "We supported Jeremy Purvis's Bill on this some years ago and in fact we funded some of his campaign and I am delighted that he has raised this issue again, especially now.

"I am hoping that Margo MacDonald can support Jeremy Purvis. I am sure that the two of them together can make a great difference."

She stressed that any law on assisted suicide had to carry firm restrictions. Ms Watson said: "Assisted suicide is not for everybody. You have to be terminally ill. You can't just get your life ended because you don't like it, or you have an ingrowing toenail."

While no law of suicide exists in Scotland, anyone who helped someone to die could be open to a charge of culpable homicide or murder.

During the debate, Mr Purvis came under fire from MSPs of all parties for raising the subject of assisted suicide so soon after his failed 2005 Bill on the same issue.

He was accused of "ploughing his futile furrow" by Labour MSP Michael McMahon, and SNP MSP Roseanna Cunningham added there was "simply no enthusiasm" for his proposal. Mr Purvis said he was not proposing euthanasia, but was for individuals choosing "how and when they die" if told by two doctors they have a terminal illness.

Answering his critics yesterday, he told The Herald: "I was looking for support for an inquiry into end-of-life choices, which would be separate from the legislative process. My absolute intention would be to hear the public's views on this. I have found, too, that medical professionals on the ground often have a different view from their leaders. There has not been an opportunity to put all these views to parliament before.

"I think the country is well ahead of us on this issue and I think the country expects the parliament to take this sensitive issue forward. We should be having this debate, particularly when it is one which could affect a large number of families in Scotland."

Physician-assisted suicide would involve either a GP prescribing a lethal dose or physically giving the drug to the sick patient. The British Medical Association held a "neutral stance" on assisted suicide until 2006, when members voted unanimously against it.

Dr George Fernie, a medical legal specialist at BMA Scotland, said most GPs would be against involvement with assisted suicide. "I think the overwhelming majority of people wouldn't want us to go down the assisted suicide route and I think it is ethically repugnant to most doctors," he added. "There is a difference between putting down an animal and a human being.

In a separate development, a senior Church of Scotland minister, who is also chaplain to the Queen north of the Border, said that too much money is being spent on prolonging the lives of the elderly when it could be diverted towards helping young offenders.

Reverend Maxwell Craig questioned if it was "appropriate" to put an increasing amount of national wealth into a section of the population when troubled young people needed more support from the state.