A Cabinet minister has hit back after US vice president JD Vance criticised the UK over a legal case in which a former serviceman who silently prayed outside an abortion clinic was convicted of breaching the safe zone around the centre.
In a wider attack on what he suggested is a shift away from democratic values across Europe, JD Vance claimed the “basic liberties of religious Britons” were under threat.
But Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, a prominent Christian member of the Government, said he disagreed with Mr Vance and being able to access health services was “an important British value too”.
In his speech in Munich on Friday, Mr Vance referred to the conviction of Adam Smith-Connor, 51, who was found guilty last year of failing to comply with a public space protection order at an abortion centre in Bournemouth in November 2022.
The US vice president said the greatest danger facing Europe was “the threat from within” and the “retreat from fundamental values”.
Mr Reynolds told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: “He also said we can disagree on some things and still be close allies. I would disagree on that. I think the threat from Russia is real.”
Referring to Mr Vance’s comments on the Smith-Connor case, Mr Reynolds said: “On the specific example he gave, let’s be clear, we don’t have blasphemy laws in the UK. That’s the right thing.
“I say that, as a Christian: no-one is arrested for what they are praying about.”
Asked if Mr Vance was wrong, Mr Reynolds said: “I wouldn’t agree with his characterisation of that. But he did say we can disagree on some of this stuff and still be a key part of a relationship of allies and friends.”
On Sky News, Mr Reynolds said “no-one is subject to any kind of enforcement from the state for praying in this country”.
“The example he gave was about people being able to access healthcare, in this case, abortions, free of intimidation or harassment.
“I think that’s an important British value, too.”
Former prime minister Sir John Major said Mr Vance’s speech was “odd”.
He told BBC Radio 4’s World At One: “It’s extremely odd to lecture Europe on the subject of free speech and democracy at the same time as they’re cuddling Mr Putin.
“In Mr Putin’s Russia, people who disagree with him disappear or die or flee the country or, on a statistically unlikely level, fall out of high windows somewhere in Moscow.
“To lecture the West about democracy seems to be rather odd. He really should be doing that in Moscow or perhaps in Beijing.”
In his Munich speech Mr Vance said that the United States’ “very dear friends the United Kingdom” appeared to have seen a “backslide in conscience rights”.
“A little over two years ago, the British government charged Adam Smith-Connor, a 51-year-old physiotherapist and an Army veteran, with the heinous crime of standing 50 metres from an abortion clinic and silently praying for three minutes, not obstructing anyone, not interacting with anyone, just silently praying on his own,” he said.
“After British law enforcement spotted him and demanded to know what he was praying for, Adam replied simply it was on behalf of the unborn son he and his former girlfriend had aborted years before.
“Now, the officers were not moved – Adam was found guilty of (breaking) the Government’s new buffer zones law, which criminalises silent prayer and other actions that could influence a person’s decision within 200 metres of abortion facility.
“He was sentenced to pay thousands of pounds in legal costs to the prosecution… in Britain and across Europe, free speech, I fear, is in retreat.”
In England, where the incident involving Smith-Connor took place, buffer zones apply within 150 metres of an abortion clinic. In Scotland, the zones apply within 200 metres.
The case also preceded the enforcement of the Public Order Act 2023, which introduced the new rules on safe access zones outside all abortion clinics following a free vote in Parliament that received cross-party support.
Smith-Connor had instead been charged with breaching a public space protection order under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, which banned activity including protests, harassment and vigils.
Proponents of safe access zones say women using a clinic can feel intimidated and distressed by the presence of someone standing in the area praying, even if they are not speaking.
Critics argue the rule undermines the right to freedom of religion and free speech.
Smith-Connor was given a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay more than £9,000 in court costs and victim surcharge after the legal proceedings brought by Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council.
