British scientists have created a cloned human embryo for the first time, placing the country in the vanguard of a technology with the potential to cure conditions such as Parkinson’s, diabetes and paralysis.

The team, at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, has become only the second in the world to achieve the feat, crowning a momentous day that underlines the astonishing pace at which the science is moving.

The announcement came as the South Korean researchers who pioneered human cloning last year unveiled fresh breakthroughs that bring the medical promise of therapeutic cloning closer to reality.

In just 15 months, the group led by Professor Woo Suk Hwang of Seoul National University has dramatically improved its techniques to establish a production line for cloned cells. It has now made 11 batches with genes from real patients.

These advances pave the way for using cloned embryonic stem cells - master cells that can form any tissue in the human body - to create "spare part" tissue for treating disease.

Stem cells could eventually be taken from cloned embryos that are genetically identical to patients and grown into replacements for tissue damaged by injury or disease. As these cells would be carry the genes of the person to be treated, they could be transplanted without risk of rejection by the body’s immune system.

While such therapies for Parkinson’s or diabetes are probably a decade away, other benefits are expected to follow more quickly. Cloned cells are also valuable models for studying these conditions and testing new drugs, and could provide an alternative to animal experiments.

The research, however, has reignited controversy over the ethics of cloning human embryos even for therapeutic purposes, which is outlawed throughout much of the world.

Critics said the new research would assist efforts to produce a cloned baby as the methods involved are virtually identical, though both research teams oppose this. They also objected to the destruction of embryonic life, said any form of cloning insults human dignity.

The Newcastle clone is the biggest success so far for the Government’s liberal approach to the technology. Parliament voted in 2001 to allow therapeutic cloning, though reproductive cloning is banned, and ministers have encouraged the research.

The British cloned human embryo was created by a team led by Professor Alison Murdoch and Miodrag Stojkovic, a Serb-born scientist who moved to Britain to take advantage of permissive laws. They received the first licence to attempt the procedure last August.

The team produced three cloned embryos, one of which survived to the blastocyst stage of about 100 cells at which stem cells can be collected. Unlike the Koreans they did not manage to extract any stem cells.

All the embryos were cloned using eggs left over from fertility treatment. They were not the clones of any living person: the genetic material injected during the procedure came from stem cells derived from normal human embryos.

The Korean group has produced 11 colonies of embryonic stem cells, from 31 cloned blastocysts and 185 eggs. Their success rate was 16 times better than last year’s, when 242 eggs were needed to make a solitary stem cell line. All these cells are clones of patients with type 1 diabetes, spinal injuries, or an immune system disease. Genetic testing has confirmed that the cells would be immunologically compatible were they to be transplanted into these patients, though it is too early to attempt this for safety reasons.

Professor Hwang said: "We are bringing science a step forward towards the day when some of humankind’s most devastating diseases and injuries can be effectively treated through the use of therapeutic stem cells."

His colleague Professor Gerry Schatten of the University of Pittsburgh said: "Now Professor Hwang is able to derive cells from patients, we can understand the root cause of their diseases. The implication of this for discovering disease mechanisms is extraordinary."

Right-to-life groups were dismayed by both developments. Josephine Quintavalle, of Comment on Reproductive Ethics, said: "To seek to cure disease by eliminating early human beings is simply not acceptable. Perfecting the technique will also make it easier and easier for those who want to do reproductive cloning to follow suit."

Other ethicists said it would be immoral not to proceed with such research. Professor Julian Savulescu of the University of Oxford said: "The moral lesson is it’s time to push harder. To fail to develop therapies that would save 100,000 people is morally equivalent to killing 100,000 people."

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