A majority of people want far greater restrictions on access to abortions, a new poll has revealed this week.

The results of the survey, carried out last week by ComRes, also found that women are more in favour of tightening British abortion laws than men.

Just one in a hundred of those polled said they would like to see the decriminalisation of abortion to allow the procedure beyond the present upper limit of 24 weeks up to birth.

Yet 60 per cent said they believed the upper limit was already too high and that it should be lowered to at least 20 weeks.