The health minister, Lord Hunt, yesterday committed the government to further legislation regulating embryo research.

His comments came as the government introduced legislation to plug a legal loophole which could allow human cloning.

The bill was backed by both the Tories and the Lib Dems, although Lord Alton, a senior crossbencher, claimed that the legislation did not close the possibility of a cloned embryo being implanted into a man or even an animal.

Lord Alton also warned that the bill did not prevent the sale or exportation of cloned human embryos.