Alithea Williams, blogpost
“I'm a bit tired but I don't think I've had a funny turn. But David Cameron has just gone into 10 Downing Street. I think that means he's going to be the new Foreign Secretary”. This line, from the BBC Chief Political Correspondent Henry Zeffman, about sums up the general feeling when Prime Minister Rishi Sunak launched his reshuffle of the Cabinet on Monday. While the fate of Home Secretary Suella Braverman had been hanging in the balance for the last week, no one predicted the former Prime Minister being brought back in as Foreign Secretary.
Changes in the front bench
While Mr (or now, as we must call him, Lord) Cameron’s appointment is the most eye-catching news from the reshuffle, the nature of the role means he will focus on foreign relations, not domestic issues such as abortion. So what does the reshuffle mean in pro-life terms?
One very significant change is at the Department of Health and Social Care. Steve Barclay has been moved to be Environment Secretary, and the new Health Minister is Victoria Atkins. This is a concerning appointment. Ms Atkins has voted in favour of decriminalising abortion, DIY abortion and abortion being imposed on Northern Ireland. On buffer zones, while she held the Government’s line at the time when a junior minister in the Home Office that nationwide buffer zones were disproportionate, she spoke in favour of them last year, and voted accordingly.
On the subject of buffer zones, the change at the Home Office could also have implications for pro-life work. It has been under Suella Braverman’s tenure that that we’ve seen the unexpected and protracted delay in implementing buffer zones, following the passing of the Public Order Act last year. James Cleverly, who has replaced her, is thought to be uninterested in our issues (he generally abstains on votes), so it remains to be seen how he will deal with the outstanding issue of buffer zones left on his in-tray.
Therese Coffey has been sacked as environment secretary. While that role doesn’t really affect our issues, Ms Coffey is strongly pro-life, so it’s shame that her voice is gone from the top table.
And some other changes
That covers the changes in major roles in Government (Jeremy Hunt remains as Chancellor) but there are a few interesting appointments in the lower ranks. Andrea Leadsom has been appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department of Health and Social Care – she has a fairly strong voting record, though doesn’t tend to speak up much on our issues. The pro-abortion Nick Gibb has resigned as schools minister, and has been replaced by the more moderate Damian Hinds (his record is mostly abstentions, but he did vote against buffer zones). Esher McVey, who leans pro-life, as been made a Minister without Portfolio, with her role unofficially being dubbed as “minister for common sense”. Full details of the role are yet to emerge, but one aspect seems to be looking at issues such as freedom of speech on university campuses – something very relevant to us.
Bills and amendments
Leaving the reshuffle aside, there are other important developments in politics. The private members ballot for MPs, which gives MPs a chance to introduce of bill of their choice, takes place tomorrow. The Lords ballot has already taken place, and we’re relieved to see that there are no pro-abortion bills or attempts to introduce assisted suicide. In fact, there are several bills put forward by pro-life peers. The Foetal Sentience Committee Bill is to be introduced on Monday 27 November by Lord Moylan, who won 9th place in the ballot. The at Home Early Medical Abortion (Review) Bill will be introduced on Wednesday 29 November by pro-life Conservative Peer Baroness Eaton, who won 13th place in the ballot. An Abortion (Gestational Time Limit Reduction) Bill 2023 [HL] is to be introduced on Thursday 7 December by pro-life Cross Bench Peer Baroness O’Loan, who won 24th place in the ballot. It is considered unlikely that this Bill will be debated due to a lack of Parliamentary time. Finally, Lib Dem Peer Baroness Benjamin won 25th place in the ballot with her Still-Birth (Definition) Bill. This could have pro-life implications, although it is also extremely unlikely to be debated.
While it’s possible to make change through private members bills in the Commons or Lords, the modus operandi of the pro-abortion lobby in recent years has been to hijack Government bills with amendments. Stella Creasy recently tweeted “Government told us decriminalising abortion requires backbench amendments to test the will of the house. The Kings Speech contains legislation that will allow us to do just that. With women being prosecuted everyday under outdated abortion offences it's time.” While the second half of her tweet is nonsense – even with the terrible pills by post policy increasing them, there have only been a handful of prosecutions of women in the last year – she is probably right that some of the new Government bills are vulnerable to being hijacked. The Criminal Justice Bill and the Sentencing Bill are two we are keeping an eye on. The earliest either Bill could come up for Second Reading would be the week commencing Tuesday 28 November.
What can I do?
We need to keep lobbying MPs to end DIY abortion. It is this dangerous policy that is causing horrific illegal abortions and exposing women to prosecution, which the shameless pro-abortion lobby is now exploiting to further their extreme agenda. We need to make the new Health Secretary aware of the strength of feeling on this issue, and inform our MPs of the truth when attempts to decriminalise abortion come.
Please join our campaign calling on the Health Secretary to end this deadly policy. We have produced a postcard that makes it easy for people to send her a message.
Please order copies of the postcard to distribute in your communities. We need thousands of postcards to send a clear message that this policy must end.