THE Roman Catholic Church made a dramatic entry into the election campaign yesterday by backing Michael Howard’s stance on abortion and withdrawing its traditional support for Labour.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor ensured that abortion would play a greater part in the coming election than any other by praising the Tory leader’s call for a cut in the legal abortion limit from 24 to 20 weeks.

The Archbishop of Westminster went on to admit that Labour was no longer the natural party of choice for the UK’s six million Catholics.

His views could be particularly significant in marginal constituencies with large Catholic populations such as the West Midlands, the North West and parts of London.

Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor spoke out after the three main party leaders gave their personal views on abortion — traditionally a matter for conscience rather than party policy — to Cosmopolitan magazine.

Mr Howard’s commitment to find parliamentary time for a debate on cutting the legal time limit contrasted with Mr Blair’s view that there was no pressing need for a change. The Prime Minister made clear that there would be no change under Labour, arguing that women would be “criminalised”.

The Cardinal said: “I am very pleased that this has been brought out on to the public agenda and that there is going to be a debate about it, both in the lead-up to and after the next election. It is a key issue. The position is that we are totally opposed to abortion.”

Praising Mr Howard’s commitment to reducing the time limit, he said: “This is something we can commend on the way to a full abandonment of abortion.”

The Cardinal’s words will come as a personal blow to the Prime Minister who regularly attends Catholic services and whose wife, Cherie, is a practising member of the Church.

He spoke out as the Catholic bishops of England and Wales issued their general election letter advising their flock on how to cast their vote.

The issues included marriage and the family, criminal justice, education, the global common good and immigration. Asked which were his priorities, he put respect for life first.

Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor said that the renewed emphasis on anti-abortion could mean a break from the Church’s traditionally perceived backing for the Labour Party. “As bishops, we are not going to suggest people support one particular party,” he said. Ultimately, the Catholic bishops are not being party political. A Catholic would not be expected to vote for a Conservative with liberal views on abortion.

“There has been a notion in the past that Catholics would be more in support of the Labour Party because they were working-class people who felt that the Labour Party stood for many of their needs. I’m not so sure that would be quite as true today.”

The bishops’ support for crucial elements of Conservative policy confirms the eruption of US-style politics of abortion into the centre stage in the UK election.

The US Catholic lobby cost John Kerry, the Democrat candidate, himself a Catholic, thousands of votes from his country’s 50 million Catholics.

Although Mr Kerry argued that the US should do more for the poor and the environment, two traditional planks of Catholic policy, his support for abortion counterbalanced this.

Tory high command believes that the Cardinal’s inter- vention will help one of its election themes — portraying Mr Howard as a man of principle against Tony Blair as a “man of tactics”.

Liam Fox, the Tory co-chairman, admitted that it would be hard to find a constituency that could swing on the Catholic vote, but said that people at least knew where Michael Howard stood. “Tony Blair as ever puts tactics before principle — that is why he has lost so much trust in this country.”

Peter Kilfoyle, a Catholic Labour MP for Liverpool Walton, a strongly Catholic area, dismissed the idea that these voters would suddenly switch. He said: “There is a strong pro-life group of Labour MPs just as there are high Catholics on the Tory benches. Catholics will have exactly the same concerns as everyone else.”

But Geraldine Smith, Labour MP for Morecombe and Lunesdale, said that she welcomed Mr Howard’s decision. Ms Smith, who has put down a Commons motion calling for the abortion limit to be cut from 24 to 18 weeks, said: “I think people look at a whole range of issues and Labour has a lot of policies that Catholics welcome such as international development.

“In one respect Michael Howard is in touch with public opinion on this one but I do not think it is a party issue, it is one that goes beyond party boundaries.”

Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor reiterated the Church’s rejection of cloning of human embryos and euthanasia, giving warning that efforts may be made in the next Parliament to legalise “mercy killing”.

So far there has been no guidance from the bishops serving the 700,000 Catholics in Scotland or the 850,000 Catholics in Northern Ireland.

However, although their emphasis might be slightly different — if anything they are even more outspoken on their anti-abortion stance — they are expected to take a generally more supportive view of the stance of the bishops of England and Wales.

It is traditional for the bishops of England and Wales to issue a pastoral letter to their flock before a general election. In the past, these have been seen as pro-Labour.

The strongest statement of socialist Catholic political theology came in the 1997 document, The Common Good, where the bishops condemned the rhetoric of greed that, in their view, had characterised the previous decade.

Yesterday’s statement indicates the determination of the Church to engage fully in pre-election politics.

Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor said: “Sometimes people say religion and politics do not mix and they should not mix. Religion is about the love of God and the love of our neighbour. It is clearly the second of those where religion and politics do mix.”

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