Aung San Suu Kyi urges 'healthy scepticism' over Burma

Aung San Suu Kyi has urged world leaders to have a "healthy scepticism" towards Burma's reform programme as she prepares to visit Britain for the first time since spending more than 20 years under virtual house arrest.

The Burmese opposition leader said she would welcome "ethical, responsible investment" by British firms in her country, which has significant energy reserves.

Ms Suu Kyi told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show: "I know what we are working towards, what our goal is, and I do believe we will get there. Not perhaps along a straight road but I do believe we will get there." She had "no regrets" about spending years campaigning for democracy to replace her country's military junta, saying her long struggle is "beginning to pay off".

Her four-day visit to the UK is part of a five-nation European tour, which will see her visit Dublin today.

She has been granted the rare honour of addressing MPs and peers in Westminster Hall and will visit Oxford, where she lived with her husband, an English academic, and their two sons. Her husband died in 1999, 11 years after she returned to Burma to care for her sick mother and was not allowed to leave her country.