The Green Party plans to ditch its previous policy promoting “normal” births and seeking to reduce the rate of Caesarean sections, the New Statesman can exclusively reveal. A well-placed source confirmed that the party understands it is “way out of tune” with safe, evidence-based maternity care.
In the run up to the general election, this publication was the first to reveal that the Greens had deleted their maternity policy after facing criticism on social media. The policy – known as HE502 – pledged to “work to reduce the number of interventions in childbirth” and branded Caesareans “expensive and, when not medically required, risky”. When questioned about the policy, the party struggled to respond.
Criticism of the Greens’ stance has re-emerged in recent weeks, as the party’s electoral success has brought additional scrutiny. Some have cited Zack Polanski’s response to questioning from Sky News in June 2024, where he said that while the policy criticising c-sections would not be in the manifesto, “it’s not that we have changed our minds“. Others have pointed out in response, that the comments were close to two years old.
The New Statesman has learned that there is now widespread acceptance in the party that the policy has to go. “The world recognises that it’s a duff policy and we need to get out of it,” a Green Party source said. A motion has been tabled for the Greens’ Spring Conference, to be held on 28 March, which seeks to “delete HE502 in its entirety”. It’s understood that a lengthy briefing document accompanying the motion sets out why the policy should be abandoned. It cites, among other things, the maternity scandals at East Kent, Morecambe Bay, and Shrewsbury and Telford. All highlighted how a commitment to vaginal, so-called “normal” births had caused harm to mothers and babies.
In his 2015 report into the Morecambe Bay Hospitals Trust scandal, which linked the deaths of one mother and 11 babies to major care failures, Dr Bill Kirkup described an increasing inclination from midwives to pursue “normal” childbirth “at any cost”. Similarly, Donna Ockenden’s damning 2022 report on Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital – where hundreds of babies were left brain damaged or dead – highlighted how the maternity unit had been praised for its lower than average Caesarean-section rate. “Some mothers and babies had been harmed by this approach,” she concluded. The language of “normal” or “natural” births was formally dropped by the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) in 2017. Targets for reducing Caesareans and prioritising vaginal deliveries, introduced in 2012, were removed in 2022. The NHS acknowledged that the policy had led to unsafe care.
While there is a “general consensus” that the old policy promoting normal births needs to go, a well-placed party source said that there was a question over when this would happen. The Greens’ health policy working group have been working on a wider package of measures, which includes abandoning the HE502 policy. While the group accept the policy is “completely inappropriate” the question was whether to ditch it now – in spring – or wait until the autumn, when the suite of health policies could be announced alongside.
In 2024, the Greens were rightly criticised for holding onto an anachronistic policy which ignored evidence, and placed mothers and babies at risk of serious harm. The fact that they now appear to recognise this, should be applauded. It is perhaps a sign of a more grown-up politics. For women, their partners, and their babies, the official change in direction cannot come soon enough.
[Further reading: Shabana Mahmood’s change of tone could fall on deaf ears]
Content from our partners
Related
Join the debate
Subscribe here to commentNot a big surprise: clearly a crazy policy. But what about the Greens refusal to support the pragmatic Cass Review findings on trans-gender services? This has reset NHS services, backed by the (lack of) research evidence on puberty blockers. An initial tepid statement about the review’s findings on the Green’s website was removed after an hour, following internal party lobbying.