The timetable allotted for consultation on Britain's new test-tube baby laws is too short, Scotland's two most senior Catholics have told the Prime Minister.

Cardinal Keith O'Brien and Archbishop Mario Conti have written to Gordon Brown asking him to urgently review the timetable for the ongoing public consultation on the Human Tissue and Embryology Bill.

Highlighting the proposal to remove the current reference in legislation to a child's need for a father, they argue that elements of the draft legislation could be very harmful to the long term welfare of children. They claim the proposal in Part 3 of the proposed Bill constitutes "a sweeping attempt to rewrite traditional concepts of parenthood and the family."

"This means that prior to provision of fertility treatment, there will no longer be any requirement, nor guidance, to consider the child's need for a father," their letter states.

Cardinal O'Brien and Archbishop Conti conclude: "We believe that the state should not deny the child's need for a father nor ignore a wealth of social research findings upholding the notion that deliberately planning to have fatherless children is inimical to their long-term welfare."

The clerics point out that the joint parliamentary committee which is conducting a consultation on the Bill will be sitting for a mere two months, over the summer and during the Parliamentary Recess.

"We do not believe that there has been anywhere near sufficient widespread and informed public consultation' on the matters in question and that to proceed in haste with regard to issues of such grave importance is both improper and dangerous," they say Read more in The Herald