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Harriet Harman has insisted that there is "no truth" in reports that the prime minister has overruled her on allowing a Commons debate on abortion.
The Daily Mail newspaper suggested on Thursday that Gordon Brown had stepped in to stop the leader of the House permitting a range of amendments to be considered to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill set to be considered by MPs next Wednesday.
Harman, who is also the government's minister for women, was thought to be backing plans to relax the law on abortion by reducing the requirement for two doctors' signatures before an termination can go ahead, and allowing abortions to be carried out by nurses or in unlicensed premises such as private homes and GP surgeries.
She was also reported to be supportive of efforts to extend the Abortion Act to Northern Ireland.
Speaking at business questions in the House on Thursday, shadow Commons leader Theresa May noted the reports that Harman and Brown had "fallen out over the amount of time that should be allowed for this debate".
However the Labour deputy leader denied that she was at odds with Brown on the matter or that he had ordered her to curtail the time allowed to debate the bill so as to stop the amendments being taken.
May also asked Harman to "confirm that she will be making every effort to ensure there are no statements that day, [and] that there will indeed be a full debate on the remaining stages of that bill".
Liberal Democrat spokesman Simon Hughes also called for an "assurance that there will be no government timetable or guillotine... to prevent that debate".
Harman said "that the House has had a great deal of time, rightly so, to discuss this important and controversial bill".
"It has been debated in total on the floor of both Houses for 81 hours, with 10 sessions in the Lords and, so far, seven sessions in the Commons," she reminded MPs.
"There is going to be a full day of debate and I will seek to make sure that there isn't a statement on that day."
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