Top minister slams JD Vance over scathing assault on UK – and warns Russia menace ‘is actual’

A top Cabinet minister has hit back at US Vice President JD Vance over his attack on the UK.

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds dismissed the top Republican’s rant that “basic liberties of religious Britons” were under threat. In a speech on Friday, Mr Vance berated European leaders over what he claimed was an erosion of democratic values and pointed to a UK legal case where an ex-serviceman was convicted of breaching a safe zone around an abortion clinic.

He 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” – rather than Russia – and the “retreat from fundamental values”.

Mr Reynolds, a prominent Christian Cabinet minister, rebuffed the criticism, saying being able to access health services was “an important British value too”. He 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.”

Pointing to 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.”

In another interview on Sky News, Mr Reynolds said “no-one is subject to any kind of enforcement from the state for praying in this country”. He said: “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.”

In a speech to the Munich Security Conference, Mr Vance said that America’s “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.”

Buffer zones apply within 150 metres of an abortion clinic in England, while in Scotland the zone is within 200 metres. This particular case preceded 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 was instead 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.

Women have reported feeling intimidated and distressed by people standing outside clinics, even if they are silently praying. Critics argue the rules undermine 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.