MPs have ruled women no longer need offer a father figure' to be eligible for fertility treatment. Is this a liberating move for independent career women or does it spell the demise of the dad? With Baby Expo coming to Brighton this weekend, Ruth Addicott asks some of the speakers about the implications.

Men! Who needs them? Well, fewer and fewer women if the latest moves by MPs are anything to go by.

As women, we're often told we can "have it all" - a good social life, successful career and children, too.

But what happens when you get to your 40s and still haven't found anyone who'd make a suitable father for your child? Do you settle for Mr "he'll have to do" or give up on the idea of having kids altogether?

It is a dilemma a growing number of women all over Britain have had to face but finally, it seems, there is an alternative.

In the biggest shake-up of fertility law for nearly 20 years, MPs have recently voted to change the requirements for women seeking IVF so a father figure is no longer necessary.

The passing of the controversial Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill will make it easier for single women and lesbian couples to have a child, allowing them greater access to fertility treatment and the same rights as traditional married couples.

With infertility affecting one in six couples (around 10,000 babies are born by IVF each year), it is a highly emotive issue and raises the question: Do we need dads?

Figures from The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), show the number of single women and lesbian couples receiving IVF has doubled from 19,000 to 40,000 since 1999.

And this does not include those who may have resorted to other more dubious options, such as internet sperm banks, for fear of discrimination.

Half the inquiries to one support group for parents with infertility problems come from single, middle-class, 33 to 40-year-olds who are working and financially independent. The support group, the Donor Conception Network, says most women would prefer to be in a relationship but haven't found the right person and feel "the clock is ticking".

The number of British women becoming single mothers is also on the rise. About 82,000 single British women aged above 30 had babies in 2006, almost double the number of a decade ago.

While not all of these women will have actively chosen to be single mothers, many of them will have done.

Venessa Smith, sperm bank manager at the London Women's Clinic (LWC) and one of the speakers at Baby Expo in Brighton this week, welcomes the Bill. She believes MPs are simply reflecting the needs of a large chunk of society.

"Providing a legal framework for single women and lesbians to receive fertility treatment will set important precedents for Europe, particularly those countries where donor gametes are disallowed such as Italy and Germany," she says.

Venessa's main concern is whether clinics will be able to meet demand.

The UK is one of the worst providers of fertility services in Europe, even though the technology was pioneered here, and there is already a huge shortage of sperm donors in Sussex.

Once the changes come into effect, waiting lists for aspiring parents are likely to be longer than ever.

As for the role of the father figure, Venessa believes it is relative.

"In our experience at the LWC, it is more important to take account of the family strength and support structure around a child," she says.

"This may well include a father but it cannot be to the child's detriment that a male is not around, so long as there is plenty of supportive parenting."

Childcare expert Rachel Waddilove, however, couldn't disagree more. Rachel, who is also speaking at Baby Expo, has had years of experience of parenting, having trained as a nanny in the 1960s and worked for politicians, royalty and high-profile celebrities, including Gwyneth Paltrow.

Married with three children and five grandchildren of her own, she is strongly opposed to the changes, claiming it sets a very worrying precedent.

"I believe a child should be brought up with a mother and a father figure," she says. "I am saddened by the way fathers are being pushed out and made to look as if all they are there for is to produce a child. I think this is bad news for the country and bad news for family life."

As old fashioned as her views may seem, Rachel says a mother plays a loving, caring and "more feminine" role, while fathers are better at the "rough and tumble" and kicking a football around the garden.

"Dads are loving and caring as well," she adds. "But a good dad can bring stability and strength and lots of things a mother can't."

Rachel is firmly against the idea of single women having IVF, whatever their reason.

"I don't think they realise the full effect," she says. "They are not just having a baby but having children for life. They will be responsible for that child 24 hours a day - they need to think very seriously about what they are doing."

With demand for IVF so high, she believes married heterosexual couples should take priority every time.

"A child needs a father and a mother. It's as simple as that," she says.

Instead of focusing on fertility treatment for single women and lesbian couples, Rachel would like to see the introduction of free parenting classes (encompassing discipline) for every family.

Her views are echoed by Fairless Masterman, spokesman for the Brighton group Families Need Fathers. He also has strong reservations about the Bill, branding it a "ticking timebomb" which will only intensify the existing problem of "out of control" teenagers.

"So far, there is a very distinct message fathers are not necessary," he says.

"When you consider that in two years' time, half of all households in England will be single-parent households and you take into account a lot of street crime can be attributed to the lack of a father figure as a male role model, I think it is a very big mistake."

He points to research which suggests children who grew up without a dad are more likely to fail at school or have problems with drugs or alcohol. He also claims a child needs experience of both gender roles in order to be a good parent themselves, pointing out even the high rate of teenage pregnancies has been attributed to the absence of a father.

"I understand the strong need women have to have children but I think they need to consider more carefully what the child needs.

"There are already a surprising number of men struggling to see their children in Brighton, probably more than most places because it has a very transient population.

What kind of message does it send out to them?" he notes.

Fairless backs up the view of Tory MP Iain Duncan Smith, who opposed the changes and believes the influence of a father is as important for a daughter as it is for a son. It is from the father, he says, that young girls learn about "empathetic, non-conditional love" and that it's possible to have a relationship with a man which doesn't involve sex.

For many women in Brighton, however, the changes will open avenues they never dreamt were possible. While those I spoke to considering the possibility of single-motherhood refused to be quoted for fear of a backlash, they point to Louise Sloan's book, Knock Yourself Up.

The book, which carries the subtitle No Man? No Problem, is a "how to" guide for single mothers, particularly those who have become single mothers by choice. It features a supportive quote from Sex And The City star Cynthia Nixon, who plays Miranda in the show and has a lesbian partner in real life.

While it sparked outrage in the States, Sloan, a single 40-something mum who gave birth to her son through artificial insemination, tells it as it is. "Independent women today are not prepared to sit dolefully on a shelf as their fertility runs out. Nor are they willing to settle for Mr You'll Have To Do or for "accidentally" getting pregnant by a lover reluctant to commit - and that is something we should celebrate," she says.

She hits back at research which suggests children with a single parent fare worse, arguing studies do not differentiate between children who are brought up by teenage or low-income mothers in their 20s and financially-independent older women who have become single mothers by their own choice.

Kelly Higson from Pink Parents, an organisation which offers advice to lesbian couples, also believes the changes should have been imposed earlier.

"Many, many phone calls have been received from distraught lesbians who had been turned down for not having this male in their lives," she says.

"Brighton has a thriving gay and lesbian community. We work with about 200 families a year in the city and in the past two days we have had a number of people ring from Brighton asking for recommended clinics in the surrounding areas, in anticipation of the changes. This can only have a positive impact."

Kelly points out most same-sex couples have positive male role models, bringing them in line with the millions of divorced and widowed mothers who, she notes, still do "a wonderful job".

When it comes to IVF, no one knows the pain of trying for a baby more than Caroline Meaden from Hastings. Caroline underwent IVF after two ectopic pregnancies and was so desperate for a child, she says she felt as if her "whole life was on hold". She finally had her son Ben (now two) through IVF.

While she has no problem with single women and lesbian couples adopting and bringing up a child, she does have reservations about them using IVF.

"I think science can go a bit too far sometimes," she says. "When there isn't a male partner, it's almost like plucking a baby from the gooseberry bush. That's a step too far for me."

Her partner John Anderson is inclined to agree, pointing out there is only a small pot of fertility treatment available and if everyone starts dipping into it, it's going to shrink even further. Even so, knowing what they went through themselves, neither would deny a single woman or a lesbian couple the right to have a child.

"I wouldn't feel angry with them if they were in front of us in the queue," he says. "But I would feel let down by the NHS for putting us in that position in the first place."