– ‘Glimmer of hope’ –
Members of parliament are to hold a debate starting at around 1600 GMT and then have a free vote on the issue, meaning they can vote according to their conscience and are not forced to stick to party lines.
The vote is expected to pass and the motion would then pass to the House of Lords, the upper chamber of parliament, for final approval later this month.
The law would allow Britain’s Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to authorise the procedure and a pioneering research centre in Newcastle is expected to be the first where it would take place.
The first babies with three parents could be born next year if MPs vote in favour of the change.
International charities in an open letter urged MPs to back the change, saying it “offers families the first glimmer of hope that they might be able to have a baby that will live without pain and suffering”.
The charities, including groups from Australia, France, Germany, Spain and the United States said mitochondrial disease was “unimaginably cruel”.
“It strips our children of the skills they have learned, inflicts pain that cannot be managed, and tires their organs one by one until their little bodies cannot go on any more,” the letter said.
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