Human Fertilisation and Embryology

Debate between Luciana Berger and Julian Huppert

Tuesday 3rd February 2015 Commons Chamber

[Luciana Berger]

That point was raised in an earlier intervention. I think it is clear from reports following reviews by the expert panel that it has already been specifically addressed, but I shall deal with it in more detail later.

[Dr Julian Huppert (Cambridge) (LD)]

There seems to be a lot of confusion between nuclear DNA and mitochondrial DNA. It might help the hon. Lady and the House if I point out that they have completely different origins. They have a different genetic code; they are not related. The origin of mitochondria is bacteria that were engulfed by cells. They are very different. The House should be aware of that.

[Luciana Berger]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that clarification.

Many concerns have been raised, the first of which is that this process is being rushed through. Anyone who has been involved in the development of these techniques would disagree that this has moved quickly. Professor Doug Turnbull and his team at the university of Newcastle have been researching this for 15 years. It was over six years ago, back in 2008, that the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 was amended to introduce the powers to allow regulations that would enable mitochondria replacement to take place to be brought forward. It was back in 2010 that researchers at the university of Newcastle developed the techniques to avoid diseased mitochondria being passed from a mother to her children. After another three years of consultation and review processes, the Government announced in July this year that they would be bringing forward the regulations to enable mitochondrial donation techniques to be used, and that is what we are voting on today.

Procedure Committee Reports

Debate between Luciana Berger and Julian Huppert

Thursday 13th October 2011 Commons Chamber

[Luciana Berger]

I thank my hon. Friend for her intervention and wholeheartedly agree with everything she said. That was a good example of something embarrassing—the prospect of not allowing the Youth Parliament to sit in this place. We debated it for many arduous hours and came to the right decision in the end. The fact that we were able to communicate with the public, particularly with those young people who wanted the opportunity to come here, was a fantastic use of Twitter. Twitter also enables us to offer an immediate reaction to a debate, to signal when we are going to speak—as I did just before I began my speech—and to inform our constituents how we are voting.

[Dr Huppert]

I have the great honour, I believe, of having been the first of all current MPs to join Twitter. It has been useful. [Interruption.] I was not an MP at the time I joined; I do not claim that. I, too, have received a number of comments about this debate. A number of people said that they had become interested in politics as a result of following Twitter and receiving tweets from myself, the hon. Lady and others. There are also people who actively tune into debates because they know what is happening; they can quickly understand what is being debated in this place. The TV and online audience for Parliament goes up because of Twitter. Another point is that deaf people have no better way of following a debate in this Chamber as it happens.

[Luciana Berger]

I thank the hon. Gentleman, who makes two points on which I shall elaborate in a few moments. As I said, I believe that Twitter, for the reasons I outlined, allows our constituents to hold us to account better.

A number of Members have said that if the public want to know what is going on, they should watch our proceedings on television. However, as @Scarletstand said, people “can’t all watch” it “on TV”. Not everyone has access to a television or a computer for internet TV, although they may have internet access to sites like Twitter on their mobile phones. It also less likely that the public would choose to watch the Parliament channel. The right hon. Member for Bermondsey and Old Southwark (Simon Hughes) expressed in an earlier intervention his worry about what people might think as they watched us on television, but according to BARB—the Broadcasters Audience Research Board—the average weekly viewing per person of BBC Parliament is just one minute.