A group of cross-community politicians have criticised the UK Government’s proposals to legalise abortion in Northern Ireland. In an open letter to the Belfast Telegraph, the group which includes widely respected human rights expert Baroness Nuala O’Loan and DUP chief whip Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, as well as figures from the SDLP and Aontu, say that the current proposals undermine devolution as they go far beyond what is legally required of the Government.

“Northern Ireland was treated with contempt by the Westminster Parliament in July and is now in danger of being treated with even greater contempt by the British Government,” they write. They point to the fact that it was English, Welsh and Scottish MPs who imposed the legislation while every single sitting MP from the North voted against it.

The letter comes after the Government launched a consultation on a new legal framework for abortion in Northern Ireland on 4 November.