Pro-life group say 60 MPs to defy whip

Anti-abortion MPs have told Gordon Brown to offer a free vote on all stages of new legislation governing embryo research, which starts its passage through the Commons today. They attacked the decision by ministers to whip votes on tonight's Second Reading of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, when MPs debate the overall principle of the measure, as well as the Third Reading, its final Commons stage.

Campaigners claim that anything up to 60 Labour MPs could vote against the Government over the measure, although whips have arranged for MPs to be absent from the key votes.

Ministers have allowed MPs a free vote on amendments which seek to cut the limit on abortion from the current limit of 24 weeks, plus clauses on human-animal hybrid embryos for research, removing the need for a father in IVF treatment and the creation of "saviour siblings", whose bone marrow or stem cells could treat a sick brother or sister.

Yesterday Jim Dobbin, Labour chairman of the All Party Pro-Life Group, said some MPs could not support the Bill at any point because of moral objections. Conservative and Liberal Democrats have a free vote on the whole Bill but Labour MPs were not, he said. "The Prime Minister has already agreed to a free vote on four issues in the Bill. We think those issues are part of the Bill and therefore there should be a conscience vote on Second Reading."

A poll showed yesterday that most people agree that MPs should have a vote throughout the Bill's passage. The survey, by ComRes for the campaign group Comment on Reproductive Ethics, found that 59 per cent of people agreed that "controversial issues such as Gordon Brown's proposed law to allow laboratory experiments on mixed human-animal embryos are so important that MPs should be allowed a genuine free vote throughout the proposed law's consideration by parliament".

The poll found 79 per cent agreed that the Government "should allow more time to give the public more of a say before it rushes through Parliament its proposed law to allow laboratory experiments on mixed human-animal embryos".

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