Scottish Catholic Observer

Former Conservative party politician Ann Widdecombe (above) has accused the Coalition Government of double standards in threatening to cut aid to countries that persecute gay people while turning a blind eye to persecution against Christians.

Ms Widdecombe, who is due to speak to the national conference of the charity Aid to the Church in Need tomorrow, told the SCO that the government needed to look at ‘linking aid to countries religious freedom.’

“David Cameron’s government has threatened to cut the overseas aid budget for countries which persecute homosexuals,” she said. “Fair enough. But what about Christians?”

“If the Government is willing to cut aid to countries on the basis that they are hostile to gays, then it also has to look at  doing it in relation to the oppression of women or the persecution of Christians.”

Miss Widdecombe, who in March became special envoy to ACN on religious freedom, was referring to recent reports that International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell has cut UK aid to Malawi after two homosexual men were sentenced to 14 years hard labour.

In her speech in to ACN’s conference at Westminster Cathedral Hall, Miss Widdecombe will accuse the government of indifference to the rights of Christians overseas.

“You stand a better chance of earnest representation if you are a hedgehog—and I speak as a patron of the Hedgehog Protection Society,” she is planning to say. “In the last 10 years, how many debates have there been on persecution of Christians, how many government statements on the subject?”

Her comments come after ACN gave statistics in its 2011 report on Christian persecution showing that 75 percent of all religious persecution was directed against Christians.

In her speech, Miss Widdecombe will appeal to the public to call on the Government to make defence of religious freedom a foreign policy priority.

“Today we should all begin to act,” she will say. “Each of us should pick one country, pray for it, donate to the Church there, write to [UK Foreign Secretary] William Hague and the local MP. We should make it our business to follow reports about persecuted Christians—especially through the work of Aid to the Church in Need.”

Full report in next week’s SCO.