Britain’s new Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, describes himself as “a man of faith”, but where does he stand on some of the issues that are most important to Catholics in this country? The Catholic Union takes a look.
Education
- Declined to say whether he would reverse the ban on new grammar schools, while backing the continuation of existing ones.
- Said he would push ahead with Boris Johnson’s pledge earlier this year to open 75 new free schools, but has not said whether he would lift the admissions cap for new faith schools.
- During a hustings in the Conservative leadership contest, he said he wanted to strengthen the Schools Bill to give parents greater say in what their children are taught at schools. In particular, he wanted schools to be “more careful” when teaching “issues of sex and gender”.
- Said he would introduce a British baccalaureate that would require pupils to take Maths and English all the way through school.
- Said he supports the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill, which is currently in the House of Lords.
Environment
- Committed to keep the 2050 Net-Zero target.
- Said he will maintain the moratorium on fracking in England.
- Said he wants to see the UK become energy-independent by 2045, but also said he would keep the ban on building new onshore wind farms and vowed to prevent farmland being used for large-scale solar plants.
- Committed to Conservative Environment Network pledge card, which included a commitment to promote clean British energy and supporting sustainable farming and the environment.
- He will be attending the COP27 climate summit in Egypt after reports suggested he would not be going.
Families
- Said that “family means everything to me” – in reference to his wife and two daughters.
- During a hustings in the Conservative leadership contest, he said that “honesty, family and hard work” were the values that mattered most to him.
- As Chancellor, he directed more funding towards the Family Hubs programme.
- No 10 has confirmed that Liz Truss’s “supply side reforms” – which included making the tax system fairer for families – have been scrapped.
- Has so far not committed to raising benefits in line with inflation.
Human Rights
- During a hustings in the Conservative leadership contest he said “I think our values and institutions are under attack” – in reference to the so-called woke agenda.
- Said he would publish a “manifesto for women’s rights” and would argue that trans women should be excluded from women’s sporting events.
- Committed to take forward plans to ban talking conversion therapy, but has not specified how he wants to see this put into law.
- Committed to review the Equality Act to make it clear that sex means biological sex.
- He voted to repeal the Human Rights Act 1998 and has shown his support for replacing it with a Bill of Rights, a flagship policy of his supporter Dominic Raab, former justice secretary, which was shelved by Liz Truss.
Immigration
- Said he will push ahead with the Government’s plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda in cases where they cross the Channel in small boats.
- During the Conservative leadership contest, he said “all options are on the table” when asked if the UK will withdraw from the ECtHR following a ruling against the government’s plan to deport people to Rwanda.
- Previously said he would implement “enhanced powers to detain, tag, and monitor illegal migrants”.
- During the Conservative leadership contest, he revealed a 10-point plan on immigration which included plans to “tighten” the legal definition of who qualifies for asylum to make it “in line with the [UN] Refugee Convention” instead of the European Convention on Human Rights.
- Said he wants to establish an annual cap on the number of refugees accepted each year, albeit one that can be changed in the case of sudden emergencies.
International
- As Chancellor, he reduced UK Aid spending from 0.7 per cent to 0.5 per cent of Gross National Income. In 2021, he stated it may return to pre pandemic levels in 2024-25.
- He is expected to refresh the Government’s Integrated Review on security, defence, foreign policy and development priorities by the end of this year.
- Committed to ban China’s Confucius Institutes at British universities. These plans are already being put into practice.
- Has scrapped plans to move the British Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, with a No 10 spokesperson saying “It has been looked at. There are no plans to move the British embassy”.
- He voted in favour of replacing the Trident nuclear submarine deterrent.
Life
- Abstained on every major vote relating to abortion in England and Wales since becoming an MP in 2015, including the recent vote on criminalising prayer vigils at abortion clinics.
- During a hustings in the Conservative leadership contest, he said that he was happy with the “status quo” when it came to abortion provision in England and Wales.
- Voted in favour of giving the Secretary of State powers to introduce abortion in Northern Ireland.
- In November 2022, shortly after becoming Prime Minister, he met Millie Anna Prelogar to discuss her campaign for better protection for unborn children with Down’s Syndrome.
- During a hustings in the Conservative leadership campaign he said he had doubts about whether assisted suicide could be introduced in way that protected the most vulnerable in society.