Javid also notably refused to say if he was personally behind the government’s long-standing policy of lowering immigration to the ‘tens of thousands’, repeatedly telling Marr ‘I’m committed to our manifesto’. In addition to reviewing the ‘Tier 2’ cap on highly skilled migrants, Javid stated that reducing the numbers of international students was ‘not my most urgent priority’. He ruled out introducing a national ID card scheme, which he said was ‘not something I am convinced by’. On the separate issue of policing, Javid said that while the government had yet to start its spending review, but added optimistically ‘When we do, I’m sure the Chancellor will learn of my views’. Arlene Foster – Sinn Fein voters tell me they will vote DUP over abortion Northern Ireland’s strict abortion laws have attracted calls for change since the historic referendum result in the Republic of Ireland last month. The DUP’s leader Arlene Foster has made clear where she stands on the controversial issue. Foster, whose delegation of MPs provide critical support to the Prime Minister on Brexit and other key issues, told Sky News’ Northern Ireland correspondent David Blevins that she had received a great deal of messages from concerned ‘pro-life’ citizens across the island of Ireland. In particular, Foster stressed that for some people, abortion was a red-line issue that came before all other concerns:AM: We have thousands upon thousands of vacancies for doctors in the NHS up and down the country. Last year, your department refused the visas of 1,500 would be doctors… SJ: …When the policy was put in place, there was a cap that was put in place of 20,700 a year of these highly skilled immigrants… It’s only in recent months that the cap is being hit… I see the problem with that. It is something that I’m taking a fresh look at. I know a number of my colleagues certainly want me to take a look at this, and that’s exactly what I’m doing. And I hope to think about this more carefully and see what can be done.
On the Republic’s referendum result, Foster said:AF: I have had emails from Nationalists and Republicans in Northern Ireland not quite believing what is going on and saying they will be voting for the DUP because they believe we are the only party that supports the unborn. There are many people who are shocked in the Republic of Ireland today and whilst I completely acknowledge the result that happened last Saturday, that doesn’t take away from the fact that there’s a substantial minority of people in the Republic of Ireland today who feel very disenfranchised… because we’ve seen with referendums recently… people on the losing side – if you like – feel very much that they’ve lost something very significant, and I think that needs to be acknowledged.
Stella Creasy – NI abortion laws ‘not sustainable’ However, Stella Creasy, the prominent Labour backbencher and feminist campaigner, is putting forward proposals to change the law to make abortion fully legal across the whole of the United Kingdom. While terminations have taken place without fear of conviction in England and Wales since 1967, the practice remains technically illegal. Significantly, Creasy’s proposed amendment to the Offences Against the Person Act would legalise abortion in Northern Ireland too. Creasy outlined her case for change to Sophy Ridge:‘I did find it, I have to say, quite distasteful to see people dancing about on the streets in relation to the referendum results’ adding ‘The way to have that debate, looking at the evidence, speaking to people who have gone through those crisis pregnancies, is to have that debate in the devolved administration’. She also remarked that ‘I have a right to hold a different view than others hold. That’s called tolerance’.
Creasy continued that ‘the majority of the Northern Irish opinion polls shows us that the public there would like to see change. They’d like to see the criminal law being taken out of this, and medical law being put in place’. She claimed that ‘actually what we’re doing is being respectful of devolution’, because she aimed to repeal a law rather than impose a new one. On a referendum on the UK’s eventual Brexit deal, she argued that ‘it’s right we say to our members, it’s right we say to the country ‘Is this the best deal that meets our values?’. Andrew Lloyd Webber – The House of Lords is wrong to vote ‘against the will of the people’ And finally, the award winning composer Andrew Lloyd Webber has added his voice to the Brexit debate. Andrew Marr asked the former Conservative peer for his verdict on the chamber of which he was once a member:SR: You’re taking matters into your own hands here in Westminster. You’re planning this cross party coalition to try and move to the decriminalisation of abortion in Northern Ireland. Just explain what it is you’re trying to do. SC: Actually what we’re talking about is the decriminalisation of abortion for the United Kingdom. This is a United Kingdom piece of legislation which we need to deal with called the Offences Against the Person Act which was written… in 1861, and it’s actually a criminal act across the whole of the United Kingdom… That puts abortion into the same category of criminal acts as rape, as child stealing, and as blowing somebody up with gunpowder… What that means in Northern Ireland is that if you are raped and you become pregnant as a result of that, and seek a termination, you would face a stronger prison sentence than the person who attacked you. That cannot be sustainable.
Lloyd Webber also bemoaned government cuts to funding for musical education, claiming that ‘the amount you spend on music and the arts comes back many times over. It’s just nonsense, it’s just bad economics’.AM: You were in the House of Lords of course for a long time… Since you’ve left, the House of Lords has voted against the government 15 times. Now I know you were a remainer in the end, but I wonder what you think about the peers now? ALW: … I do not think you could possibly be part of an unelected House and vote against the will of the people. That seems to me to be wrong. It’s a difficult one. I myself felt that the House of Lords had become really very political. I joined it 20 years ago… and it was a very different place.
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