DR Tomas Winning, the Scottish cardinal, refused to apologise to the Labour Party leader, Mr Tony Blair, yesterday for criticising him over his failure to condemn abortion.
Cardinal Winning, the leader of Scotland's 750,000 Catholics, said he would take up Mr Blair's offer for a meeting to discuss the issue but added that he would not apologise to him because his criticism was not personal: "I have not intention of apologising for something I did not do."
However, Cardinal Winning renewed his attack on Labour's stance, pointing out that it was the only political party which had a policy of upholding the 1967 Abortion Act.
"Tony says he is against abortion. But how can you be against abortion and vote for it on occasions? That's the point. The inconsistency of the line doesn't fill me with great confidence for the future.
"What I am calling for is a discussion on this so that the Labour Party can clarify its stance on abortion," he said.
A Labour spokesman pointed out that, like all the other political parties, MPs were given a free vote on the issue and stressed that, although Mr Blair may not personally support every reason for an abortion he considered the existing laws should remain.
"Mr Blair would meet him, as he does other religious leaders. In fact he met Cardinal Winning a couple of months ago. But he fundamentally disagrees with the cardinal on the issue of abortion. He doesn't think that as a legislator he should use the criminal law to outlaw decisions that are of agonising complexity for many women," he added.