Three-parent babies to be born in Britain as MPs say yes to law change

Experts from across the world warned that Britain would be making an historic mistake by amending the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 and said children born from the procedure were at risk of cancer and disability.

44 MEPs also wrote an open letter to Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, expressing concerns about the procedure, and claiming that the UK may be breaking European laws in seeking to modify the germ line.

However MPS voted in favour 382 in favour to 128 against.

The House of Lords will vote on the issue next month although it is unlikely to derail the amendment.

Health minister Jane Ellison, said : All reasonable and rigorous steps have been followed to reach this point. This is a bold step for parliament to take but it is considered an informed step. For many families affected it is light at the end of a very dark tunnel.

Around 2,500 women in Britain could benefit from the new treatment, amounting to around 125 babies born each year.

But MPs and scientists had argued that the science behind the new procedure was unproven.

You are not curing somebody of something you are creating someone different. People have compared it to blood transfusions. That is simply wrong," said Jacob Rees Mogg MP who voted against the amendment.

Fiona Bruce MP warned that it represented genetic modification of babies: "Once the genie is out of the bottle, there will be no going back for society."

However charities and families with children suffering from mitochondrial disease welcomed the vote.

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Three-parent babies to be born in Britain as MPs say yes to law change