Theresa May has no plans to help liberalise abortion rights in Northern Ireland following the Irish referendum result, Downing Street has said, insisting any change can only be made by the region’s devolved assembly, which collapsed 16 months ago.

The prime minister has faced intense political pressure over the law in Northern Ireland, where abortion remains illegal except in exceptional circumstances, after voters in the Republic of Ireland strongly backed liberalisation. But while May indicated her support for the Irish referendum decision in a tweet over the weekend, she would risk alienating the Democratic Unionist party MPs who support her government and who back the existing law if she sought to move on the matter from Westminster.

Asked what might happen to Northern Ireland’s abortion laws, which do not make exceptions for conceptions by rape or incest and which allow for a maximum sentence of life in jail, May’s spokesman said it was a matter for the devolved Northern Ireland government. “The prime minister said on Sunday that the Irish referendum was an impressive show of democracy, which delivered a clear result, and she congratulated the Irish people on the decision,” he said. “But it’s important to recognise that the people of Northern Ireland are entitled to their own process, which is run by locally elected politicians.(theguardian)…[+]