INTRODUCTING an opt-out system of organ donation will increase the rights of the individual, according to the Glasgow MSP leading calls for the change.

Labour MSP Anne McTaggart's Organ and Tissue Donation (Scotland) Bill will require adults to 'opt out' if they do not wish to donate after death.

Ms McTaggart said the system was preferable because it would give people the legal right to say no to donation in their lifetime, for the first time.

The MSP was responding to comments by a Free Church of Scotland that an opt-out system would be "something akin to a tax imposed by the state" on people's bodies after death.

She said: "Those who did not wish to be organ donors would have the opportunity to make a clear declaration that they were opposed to the transplantation of their organs, and this decision could not be overturned after death."

The bill has been launched on the back of the Evening Times' award-winning Opt for Life campaign, which is calling for the change.