Downing Street Says » Embryology

Asked if the Prime Minister was any closer to making up his mind on embryology, the PMS replied that the situation on embryology, as we had always made clear, was that it was the Government’s view that it was necessary to update the legislation on human fertilisation and embryology. This was an important Bill, and was a key part of the Queen’s Speech. Stem cell and other related research had made a huge difference to the lives of many people in this country, and would do in the future. The Prime Minister had also made clear that where individual MPs had an issue of conscience with particular clauses in the Bill, then that was something that would need to be resolved with the Whips. But it was important to make the distinction between the Bill as a whole, which was a wide-ranging Bill including a number of important clauses which for example reform and modernise the regulatory framework for embryology research, and from the treatment of specific individual clauses where as the Prime Minister has said, people who had conscious issues did need to have an opportunity to express those.

Asked what the Prime Minister’s reaction was to the statements of Cardinal Keith O’Brien, and did he regard them as helpful, the PMS replied that these were controversial matters, there was obviously differences of opinion on this, and people had deeply held views on these matters, but there were people with deeply held views who take a different position from the position that had been expressed by some people over the weekend. That was why it was important that we had a debate on this and heard from both sides of the argument.

Asked if there was a difference between Cabinet collective responsibility and individuals going to the Whips and over issues of conscience, the PMS replied that it was important to make a distinction between the Bill as a whole which was Government business that was in the Queen’s Speech, and individual clauses which may raise particular issues of conscience for specific individuals. In relation to individuals’ concerns about individual clauses, that was a matter as the Prime Minister had been saying that needed to be resolved with the Whips.

Asked if it was fair to say that the Prime Minister would be comfortable with members of his Cabinet on certain clauses voting against the Government or abstaining, the PMS replied that this was an issue that as you would expect, he was discussing with his Cabinet colleagues, he understood the concerns that people had, and he understood that we needed to find a resolution to this.

Asked if he believed that a resolution would be found, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister did believe that a resolution would be found.

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» Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Embryology

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