Tory hopeful Liz Truss ‘would not’ abolish abortion in Northern Ireland

Wed, 17 Aug, 2022 - 17:01

By Rebecca Black, PA

Conservative leadership contender Liz Truss has rejected a call to abolish abortion in Northern Ireland.

Abortion laws in the North were liberalised in 2019 in laws passed by Westminster at a time when the powersharing government at Stormont had collapsed.

During a Conservative Party leadership hustings event at the Culloden Hotel on the outskirts of Belfast, Ms Truss was asked if she would abolish abortion in Northern Ireland, “ending infanticide”, or let the people of the North have their say on the issue.

Rishi Sunak during the hustings event at the Culloden Hotel in Belfast (Niall Carson/PA)

She responded to applause: “I’m afraid I don’t agree with you.

“We are a United Kingdom and we need all of our laws to apply right across the United Kingdom – that is what being a union is.”

Ms Truss and Rishi Sunak both set out their cases to be the next leader of the Conservative Party – and the next prime minister – to party members in Northern Ireland on Wednesday.