The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, which will shortly come before Parliament, is controversial to say the least. The reason for the controversy is the moral dilemma that stem cell research poses for people of many faiths, although it is the Catholic Church that has spoken out most forcefully against the current proposals.

Traditionally and for very good reasons, all parties have given their MPs free votes on matters of conscience like this. There has always been a recognition that moral questions such as whether to restore the death penalty and whether to permit stem cell research are not party political issues - they are questions on which individual MPs must follow their own conscience. Gordon Brown's decision to whip the Bill flies in the face of this sensible convention and puts his MPs firmly between a rock and a hard place - or in this case between the desire to follow the party line and their personal faith. The partial climbdown announced yesterday seems to me to be nothing but a farce and if individual Labour MPs and Ministers accept it they will do themselves a great disservice.

More importantly, they will be doing their constituents an even greater disservice. I certainly do not vote for an MP to blindly follow what his or her party tells them is the line to take and if my MP is not prepared to stand up and be counted on an issue where his or her party line is at odds with his or her faith, then it is difficult to see what, if anything, they would be prepared to stand-up to their political masters over.

I am not actually against the principles of this Bill, although I would have to read it in a lot more detail than I have done before deciding whether or not I could support it. But my point is that I would almost feel compelled if I were a Labour MP to vote against it simply to remind Gordon Brown that I was not simply his puppet. The House of Commons is not just another Government department for Brown and his Ministers to manage, it is the ultimate authority in this country and the Prime Minister should show it more respect.

Unfortunately, Labour MPs and Ministers do not have a good track record recently in respect of these matters. The staunchly Catholic Ruth Kelly recently felt able to continue to support the Government when it voted to force the Catholic Adoption Agency to place children with gay couples, contrary to the teachings of her faith and now she is indicating that she is happy with Brown's "compromise". Whether the Government is right or wrong on these issues is not the point - the point is whether Ms Kelly and her colleagues have the moral conviction to ever put their faith over their position in the Government?