Public anger warning over embryo Bill - UK

[maldon_road]

It's an issue Canadians can relate to. Should government MPs be required to vote in favor of a Bill some of whom reject on religious and moral grounds? In the case of our Bill C-68 (gay marriage) the Cabinet was required to vote in favor, but not backbenchers.

Gordon Brown has a couple of very conservative Catholics in his cabinet (most notably Ruth Kelly) who would likely resign rather than vote in favor of the bill.

Public anger warning over embryo Bill

Gordon Brown was warned by a former senior cabinet minister last night that he risks public scorn if he does not offer Labour MPs a free vote on controversial new embryo research laws.

Stephen Byers, a leading Blairite, said the public would “look on in disbelief” if the Prime Minister persisted with his current strategy of forcing MPs to vote in favour of the creation of human-animal hybrids.

Mr Byers’ intervention comes after two Roman Catholic cabinet ministers, believed to be Ruth Kelly, the Transport Secretary, and Paul Murphy, the Welsh Secretary, privately threatened to resign if a free vote is not given on parts of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, due before MPs next month.

The Government is braced for further criticism today when the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor signals that Catholic MPs should vote against the legislation.

In a pre-recorded interview with Sky News he will say: “There are some aspects, not all, of this Bill for which I believe there ought to be a free vote because Catholics and others will want to vote according to their conscience.”

His call follows similar demands from the leader of Roman Catholics in Wales, the Archbishop of Cardiff, the Most Reverend Peter Smith, and the leader of Scotland’s Catholic Church, Cardinal Keith O’Brien, who has called the bill a “monstrous attack on human rights, human dignity and human life”.

Mr Byers’ intervention is significant because it comes at a time when Mr Brown is politically vulnerable, both over the embryology Bill and Labour’s slump in the opinion polls.

Mr Byers told The Sunday Telegraph: “As a Labour member of Parliament who is not a Roman Catholic I believe that it is important that Labour MPs should support the Government at second reading of this Bill but then be given a free vote on a limited number of amendments when they are put forward.

“On some of these issues, like whether we should allow the creation of human-animal hybrid embryos, I remain undecided. There is a strong case that can be made on both sides of the argument: On the one hand the desire to be able to tackle diseases like MS and Alzheimers, on the other hand respect for the dignity and sacredness of all human life.

“On matters like this I want to reach my own decision and not be instructed how to vote. The public will look on in disbelief if a matter as sensitive as the creation of human-animal embryos is made a matter of party policy with the Government instructing its MPs how to vote.”

The head of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland has urged Catholic ministers to quit the Government rather than support the proposals. Cardinal Keith O’Brien said there was an obligation on all Catholic MPs to consider the guidance of the church’s leaders....

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