PM not backing bid for 'Alfie's Law'
Theresa May says medical experts should continue to make decisions in cases like that of the terminally-ill Liverpool toddler
Prime Minister Theresa May has said her condolences are with the family of Alfie Evans - but she believes medical experts should be the ones to make decisions in cases such as his.
Speaking on a visit to Brooklands Primary School in Sale, Greater Manchester, Mrs May was asked if she would support an Alfie's Law, proposed by North West MEP Steven Woolfe, which would give parents of terminally-ill children more say in end-of-life hospital care.
The 23-month-old died on Saturday after his life support treatment was withdrawn on Monday following a long-running legal battle.
Mrs May said: "This is a tragic case. I think all of us feel enormously for the parents of Alfie.
"This is a great tragedy to have to go through, the death of a child, and particularly to see it happen in this way.
"It's important that decisions about medical support that are given to children and to others are made by clinicians, by those who are expert in that matter, but I think at the moment we all feel for Alfie's family and our condolences are with them.''
Alfie's parents, Tom Evans and Kate James, opposed withdrawing life support from the youngster, who had a degenerative brain disease, and wanted to take him abroad for treatment.
An increasingly acrimonious six-month battle with Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool saw medical staff allegedly targeted, a mob try to storm the hospital doors and a series of failed legal tussles in the High Court, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights.
Successive judges agreed Alfie had been given "world-class'' healthcare by Alder Hey but his brain was so damaged that further treatment was "futile'' and it was in his best interests to withdraw life support, against his parents' wishes.
Mr Woolfe launched the campaign for an Alfie's Law on Thursday.
He said: "The cases of Charlie Gard, Ashya King and now Alfie Evans show a dangerous trend of public bodies depriving parents and families of the right to make decisions they believe are in the best interests of their children.
"Parents' rights should neither be ignored nor dismissed as irrelevant by hospitals and courts, who believe they know best and have the power, money and resources to overwhelm families who simply want to save their child.
"We demand a change in the law to restore the rights of parents in such decisions.
"All parents should be allowed an independent advocate to defend their case with the right legal and medical expertise and financial equality of arms.
"Now is the time to act. We cannot have another baby, another family, have to go through the struggle and torment the Evans family have. It's time for Alfie's Law.'