Zack Polanski is facing pressure from dozens of MPs to officially ditch the Green Party’s maternity policy seeking to reduce birth interventions “with immediate effect”.
The Green Party apologised “unreservedly” in 2024 for the upset caused by its health policy, which pledged to reduce the rate of caesarean sections, describing them as “expensive and, when not medically required, risky”.
The policy originally said the party would “work to reduce the number of interventions in childbirth and change the culture”. A change to NHS culture was also proposed to ensure that “birth is treated as a normal and non-medical event”.
The policy was deleted from its website and was not included in the election manifesto, but Mr Polanski told Sky News at the time, “it’s not that we have changed our minds”, adding expert advice would be needed before it could be included.
There has been speculation in recent days that the party plans on officially withdrawing the policy, but more than 50 Labour MPs have written to Mr Polanski urging him to officially abandon the policy immediately.
“For too long, the narrative has been shaped by judgement,” the letter, seen by The Independent, reads. “The implication that births should not involve medical intervention has contributed to a harmful tendency to portray Caesarean sections as a failure, a shortcut, or a lesser form of giving birth. This judgement is not just unfair but dangerous.”
It adds: “The current policy you have been advocating for is dangerous. We are therefore calling on you to change your policy with immediate effect to protect women and babies in this country.
“This is more important than ever with ongoing investigations into maternity care across the country. It is vital that we end dangerous policies that will harm women and start ensuring that births in this country are, first and foremost, safe.”
It is understood that a motion to change the maternity policy will be put forward at the party’s spring conference later this month, with members deciding whether or not to debate it.
A Green Party spokesperson said: “We are a democratic party and our policies are determined by our members, not MPs belonging to a different party.”
The policy was widely criticised for ignoring medical evidence, which could risk harming mothers and babies. Though it was deleted from its website and did not appear in their 2024 election manifesto, plans for it to be officially abandoned have not yet been finalised.
In 2022, the NHS dropped its national caesarean section targets to reduce C-section rates to 20 per cent with maternity staff instead told to treat cases on an individual basis, while the Ockenden Review into failures at Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust, which had been praised for its lower than average C-section rate, also found that “some mothers and babies had been harmed by this approach”.
Evidence has found that the UK is underperforming compared with other countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on infant and newborn mortality. In 2022, the UK ranked 19th out of 22 comparable countries.
Last year, an audit of NHS maternal care found more than half of mothers now have babies with the help of medical intervention such as a caesarean section or the use of instruments such as forceps or a ventouse suction cup.
Michelle Welsh, Labour’s chair of the APPG on maternity, said: “It’s deeply irresponsible for the Greens to continue advocating for this dangerous and ideological policy, and it demonstrates just how little they understand maternity care. Their anti-C-section agenda risks reinforcing a stigma that could put the lives of women and babies at risk, and they should withdraw the policy immediately.
“At the heart of maternity care must always be one simple principle: a safe birth for mother and baby. While there is still much work to do to improve maternity services, we must always start from a place of safety and clinical judgement.
“Rather than judging women for how they give birth, this Labour government is focused on making maternity care safer for every mother and baby. That’s why we’ve launched a national investigation into maternity services to drive improvements across the country, while also supporting families who want to have children by expanding free childcare, introducing free breakfast clubs, and growing our network of Best Start Family Hubs.”
