Theresa May bats away calls for Northern Ireland abortion shake-up
3 min read
Theresa May has moved to shut down calls for an overhaul of Northern Ireland's strict anti-abortion laws following last week's historic referendum in Ireland.
Pressure has been growing on the Prime Minister to act after people in the Republic voted by more than 65% to ditch rules that allow a woman to have an abortion only when her life is at risk.
Opposition parties and some senior Conservatives have urged the Prime Minister to act to repeal similar rules in Northern Ireland that they say force many women to travel to England to access help.
But a spokesperson for Mrs May today poured cold water on the drive to liberalise abortion laws north of the border, saying the issue should be dealt with by the devolved government there - which has not sat for almost 18 months.
"This is a devolved matter," the Number 10 spokesperson said.
They added: "It is important to recognise that the people of Northern Ireland are entitled to their own process which is run by elected politicians.
"Our focus is restoring a democratically accountable devolved government in Northern Ireland so that locally accountable politicians can make decisions on behalf of the public they represent. "
Senior Tories including minister Anne Milton and Health Committee chair Sarah Wollaston have urged the Prime Minister to allow a free vote on Labour MP Stella Creasy's amendment to the Domestic Violence Bill which would equalise abortion access across the UK.
But those calls put the Prime Minister in a tough spot, with the traditionalist DUP party on which her fragile parliamentary majority relies firmly against any moves to change abortion laws in Northern Ireland.
Mrs May's spokesperson today refused to be drawn on whether MPs would be given a free vote on the Creasy amendment.
"In the past there has been a free vote but I'm not going to comment on hypotheticals," they said.
Leading Tory backbencher Jacob Rees-Mogg - who is a devout Catholic - told listeners to his LBC radio show this morning that he was “saddened” by the Irish referendum outcome, and backed the Prime Minister's stance.
He said: “If you respect our devolutionary constitutional settlement then these issues ought to be decided in the right place…
“I think once you start picking and choosing on the devolution settlement you might find that you do great damage to the union.”
But Labour's Shami Chakrabarti has urged the Prime Minister to take action, saying Mrs May's stance on the issue would be a test of her feminist credentials.
“No woman should be forced to leave her family for an abortion after rape or incest and to be criminalised on return," the opposition frontbencher wrote. "This is a feminist test.”
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