No one should be arrested because of their thoughts or prayers, according to the leader of the DUP as he challenged Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on abortion clinic exclusion zones.

He was speaking after his party hosted a woman who was arrested for praying silently inside a protest exclusion zone near a Birmingham abortion clinic.

Jeffrey Donaldson asked the Prime Minister to review such laws and ensure that England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are “beacons of religious freedom” across the world.

Mr Sunak replied that the matters were under discussion in Parliament.

Meanwhile, ADF International, which fights for religious freedom and is supporting the woman who was arrested, said Isabel Vaughan-Spruce was criminally charged, “for simply praying in her head outside a closed abortion facility, when no service-users were around”.

“To be able to pray – think – in one’s head is a core human right which is fundamental to everybody, no matter their view on abortion. We urge the Prime Minister to revisit the issues raised by Clause 9 of the Public Order Bill, which go far beyond proportionate condemnation of harassment or obstruction at the entrances of abortion facilities”.