The Government is seeking a compromise that will avoid a cabinet split over controversial legislation on embryo research.

Health Secretary Alan Johnson said he expected an "accommodation" to be reached that would mean Catholic Labour ministers will not be forced to vote against their religious convictions.

Labour whips are hoping to head off a dispute that could stop the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill going through Parliament.

The three Catholic members of Gordon Brown's cabinet - Des Browne, Ruth Kelly and Paul Murphy - faced a crisis of conscience after senior Church leaders spoke out against the bill.

The leader of Scotland's Roman Catholics, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, used his Easter Sunday sermon at St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh to call the legislation a "monstrous attack on human rights, human dignity and human life".

And the most senior Catholic in England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, said: "Catholics and others will want to vote according to their conscience. I don't think it should be subject to the party whip."

The controversy centres on plans to create stem cells by combining animal eggs and human nuclei in laboratory conditions.

Supporters of the bill say it will allow scientists to help sufferers of illnesses like Parkinson's, motor neurone disease and diabetes.

A coalition of medical charities has written to MPs urging them to support the legislation, saying it has "overwhelming support" among scientists and patients.

The Health Secretary said it was a distortion to talk of "Frankenstein" experiments creating hybrid "monsters".

"For people out there suffering from Parkinson's disease and motor neurone disease, this is not a question of some issue about the procedure through the House of Commons.

"This is an issue about whether we can find the drugs that can cure their illnesses. So this is the heart of the matter."

Mr Johnson added: "I believe... once we have discussed all these issues and seen all the safeguards in the Bill, that there will not be a split, but there will be an accommodation for those who have a particular sensitivity around this, including those whose sensitivity relates to their faith."

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