The Independent reports that the prime minister held talks with Britain's leading Roman Catholic cleric over plans to legislate on "living wills".

The Mental Capacity Bill has come under fire from MPs on all sides for leaving the door open to euthanasia.

In an 11th hour bid to shore up support, Tony Blair held a phone conversation with Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor to assure him the bill would not allow doctors to commit "mercy killings".

A former minister told the paper: "We all got pressure from our constituencies.  We all have Catholic constituents.  It would only take one Tory MP to take up a bill on abortion law reform and we would be under pressure again on that."