Brown compromise on embryos vote

The Prime Minister has announced he will allow a free vote on controversial parts of new embryology laws.

Gordon Brown wrote to all Labour MPs in a bid to end a crisis that could have forced Roman Catholic ministers to quit the Government.

He said his MPs will be allowed to vote according to their conscience on three ethical issues to be debated in the Commons.

But he insisted he will expect his party to back the Government's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill as a whole and not block its passage through Parliament.

Catholic and Anglican bishops have denounced aspects of the Bill, which will allow the creation of hybrid or "admix" embryos from animal eggs and human nuclei.

Supporters say stem cells harvested from the embryos could lead to breakthrough treatments for illnesses like Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, cancer and heart disease.

Mr Brown told MPs: "We will respect the conscience of every Member of Parliament as they decide how to cast their vote in this.

"On the three issues where, for the first time, these ethical issues are being debated in Parliament in this new way - and that's so-called admix embryos, the second one is saviour siblings and the third one is IVF research - exercising your conscience will mean, for Labour Party members, a free vote.

"But the Bill itself cannot be subject to a free vote because there are so many other changes that I believe are necessary as part of building up the research framework of cour country and, of course, creating the right ethical framework for the development of embryo research."

So-called "saviour siblings" are children born to provide stem cells for a sick brother or sister, while IVF or In Vitro Fertilisation is the controversial technique in which eggs are fertilised by sperm outside a woman's womb.

The Prime Minister faced a rebellion of up to 12 Catholic ministers including cabinet members Des Browne, Ruth Kelly and Paul Murphy.

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