LORD FALCONER, the former cabinet minister, has backed a campaign to provide legal protection to people who travel abroad to help terminally ill relatives commit suicide.

The former lord chancellor and justice secretary has become the most high-profile Labour figure to call for a change in the law to ensure that families who accompany their loved ones overseas to euthanasia clinics do not risk prosecution.

Although the director of public prosecutions (DPP) has refrained from pressing charges in about 100 cases involving family members who have helped terminally ill patients travel to Switzerland to end their lives, almost all the relatives have endured distressing police interviews.

Falconer plans to put down an amendment to the Coroners and Justice Bill, to be debated in the House of Lords this week, to remove the threat of prosecution.

“We are in this awful situation where people who travel with relatives probably won’t be prosecuted, but can’t be sure,” said Falconer. “It means people are going to clinics on their own, or going earlier than they otherwise would, which can’t be right.

“In my view rightly, the DPP has refused to prosecute around 100 people in these cases. The law must be brought in line with actual practice and the change in public views on these issues.”

Falconer will suggest that two GPs should certify a patient is terminally ill to prevent them from being pressured by relations into going to assisted suicide clinics such as Dignitas in Switzerland.

As an additional safeguard, his amendment could say individuals who want to end their lives should declare their intentions before an independent witness.

The change would not affect the most unusual and controversial cases, such as that of Dan James, 23, who was paralysed in a rugby accident but was not terminally ill. He took his own life after travelling to Dignitas with his parents.

In March, Patricia Hewitt, the former health secretary, tabled a similar amendment to the bill when it was in the Commons. The measure was widely supported by MPs but ran out of time.

Dignity in Dying, a campaign group, said: “We are delighted Lord Falconer is supporting amendments to distinguish between maliciously encouraging a suicide and compassionately assisting a loved one to die when it is their wish.

“We hope other peers will have the courage to back this move.”

Falconer’s backing for a change to the law comes as the Lords this week considers the case of Debbie Purdy, who has multiple sclerosis.

Purdy has been embroiled in a long legal battle to ensure her husband will not be prosecuted if he travels with her to the Dignitas clinic.

Under the law at present in England and Wales, aiding and abetting suicide is a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

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