Evening Standard comment: Abortion reform makes sense in all of Ireland

Northern Ireland’s Unionists are always telling the rest of us that they want to keep their laws aligned with the whole United Kingdom and not with the Irish Republic.

But there’s one issue on which they have always been happy to take a lead from Dublin not London — and that’s abortion. Until now, that is.

Abortion was legalised in Britain in 1967. But in Northern Ireland it is still banned, except in very limited circumstances.

Those involved even face the threat of imprisonment for life. Women who need abortions have had to travel to Britain — and pay.

But as busy flights from London to Dublin today show, the Irish Republic may be about to embrace change.

Thousands of people are heading home to take part in tomorrow’s referendum to legalise abortion in the republic. We hope the result is a clear yes.

The case for change is compelling, after all. The referendum has highlighted the antique injustice of rules which force women to travel abroad to have abortions but ban them in the country itself.

More than 160,000 are estimated to have made the trip to Britain since 1980.

Ireland is a wealthy, confident and progressive nation now and modern laws are part of that. Three years ago its voters backed gay marriage.

Polls suggest they will back a right to legal abortions too, although many voters remain undecided.

The Irish Government — backed by all the main political parties — says it will aim to pass legislation by the end of the year if yes wins.

But if reform makes sense in the south, then why not in the north of Ireland too?

The answer has less to do with the rights of women than the state of politics at Westminster. A weak minority Conservative government which depends on the support of reactionary DUP MPs is in no position to bring change.

So can we suggest another way to bring it about? In the Sixties two backbench MPs, the Liberal David Steel and Labour’s Leo Abse, put forward private members' bills to bring reform on abortion and homosexuality.

Now a Commons vote on abortion in Northern Ireland would surely be won too. A brave MP could make their name this way.

We are, after all, part of one United Kingdom.

How to use £20 billion

Twenty billion. That is the sum the Health Foundation tells us today is the extra funding required every year to maintain the current services of the NHS.

As it happens, £20 billion is also, we have just discovered, the annual amount British firms will have to pay for the “Max Fac" customs controls proposed by Brexiteers because they want to leave the EU customs union.

The estimate was provided by the head of HM Revenue & Customs, although (incredible as it sounds) we’re told that the leading Cabinet ministers who have championed this plan never thought to ask what the price would be.

Imposing such a tax on business, when Britain is now the slowest-growing of the major economies of the world, is not sensible.

The Evening Standard thinks the best answer would be to stay in the customs union, try to match the growth rates of the rest of the EU and fund things such as our healthcare that way.

But if we were a socialist shadow chancellor, as John McDonnell is, we might propose a different idea.

Stay in the customs union, which is already Labour policy, then impose that £20 billion tax on business and use the money to fund public services.

To coin their phrase for them: “We’ll be spending over £350 million a week on unnecessary new customs controls. Let’s fund our NHS instead."