Brown urges Embryo Bill support

The prime minister has appealed to MPs to support stem cell research using human-animal embryos.

Ahead of a free vote in the Commons vote on Monday, Gordon Brown wrote in the Observer newspaper that the science could save "millions of lives".

Catholic MPs in particular are concerned at the use of such hybrid embryos, but Brown said such work was a "moral endeavour".

It is one of three key aspects of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill being put to an unwhipped vote as the legislation has its committee stage on the floor of the whole House.

As well as human-animal embryos, Labour MPs and ministers will be allowed to oppose or abstain on votes on creating so-called 'saviour siblings' and giving lesbian couples and single mothers equal access to IVF fertility treatments.

However Brown stressed that the government sees the Bill as a whole, which re-drafts the regulatory framework in light of scientific advances, as crucial to the future of medical research.

"The scientists I speak to are committed to what they see as an inherently moral endeavour, that can save and improve the lives of thousands and over time, millions," he wrote on Sunday.

"Let me be clear: if we want to sustain stem cell research and bring new cures and treatments to millions of people, I believe admixed embryos are necessary," he added.

"The question for me is not whether they should exist, but how their use should be controlled."