Embryo Bill (2)

As Right Student says in his comments on my last Embryo post:

This could be about any topic and it would still be as absurd for Gordon Brown to allow rebellions as long as it didn’t affect the final result. Democracy? hardly!

I couldn’t agree more. On issues of conscience such as this there is clear parliamentary convention that the matter should be a free vote. To even suggest allowing ministers to vote against the bill only if it will not affect the result is outrageous.

Thankfully the press has caught hold of this, and the leaders in today’s Times, Telegraph and Guardian are all opposed to Brown’s stance.

The Guardian says:

That is the thing about the individual conscience - it is not for the majority, the government or the chief whip to decide when it applies. The only people who can decide on an issue of conscience are individuals themselves. The bill should be supported, but MPs should be given a free vote on the most contentious issues and should not be heavily whipped on the bill as a whole.

It is not often I find myself in agreement with Guardian leaders, but here is one which speaks sense.

As the Telegraph points out:

What has turned this issue into such a thundering row is the inexplicable clumsiness with which the Government is handling it.

By resisting a free vote, Downing Street has succeeded in picking a wholly unnecessary fight with the Catholic establishment (including a number of Labour MPs and ministers). It has also prompted renewed concerns about the Government’s basic competence at a time when it is already struggling in the polls.

This was The Right Student’s point in his post yesterday - what on earth compelled Brown to do this?

It is further evidence of Brown’s ’stalinist’ desire for control, and his clumsiness in  pursuing policy objectives. Yes the bill should be supported, but it will pass under a free vote… so why turn it into an issue (and a news story) where one was not needed.