‘If we saw this in a third world country, we’d be genuinely shocked’: MP on pregnant women told how to give birth in a lay-by

Liberal Democrat Shadow Attorney General Ben Maguire has described the closure of a maternity unit in North Devon as a situation so severe that pregnant women are now being offered guidance on how to give birth in their car.

That guidance is not hypothetical. The Mirror reported this week that an antenatal teacher in Barnstaple, Catherine Mchomvu, is now running sessions specifically on delivering a baby in a moving car or on the hard shoulder, covering everything from labour positions to keeping towels and fuel on hand. Women who spoke to the paper described themselves as “petrified” and “helpless”, with one, 27 weeks pregnant and facing a journey of an hour and 40 minutes to hospital, recalling a previous birth in which she and her son had nearly died.

Speaking to GB News, Mr Maguire said the reality facing expectant mothers in his neighbouring constituency was one he struggled to reconcile with modern Britain.

“Pregnant women being taught how to give birth in a car, in Britain, in 2026 – it’s extraordinary,” he said. “Shocking doesn’t even really begin to cover it, does it? If we saw this kind of state of healthcare in a third world country, we’d be genuinely shocked. But here we are, in the UK, in 2026, and residents in my neighbouring constituency of North Devon are facing this reality today.”

“It’s absolutely awful for the poor women, and I must pay tribute to those who have had to suffer this anxiety over the past few weeks, over the summer, at a time when nobody wants to be anxious,” he said. “It should be an exciting time, looking forward to the birth of a new child. And instead, we’ve seen the trust make this decision to close their maternity unit.”

He said it was “absolutely shocking” to see suggestions that pregnant women could be forced to give birth in a lay-by if they were unable to reach hospital in time.

Mr Maguire welcomed news that a petition launched by the neighbouring North Devon MP had now reached 15,000 signatures, calling for the unit to reopen, with hopes it could happen by the end of September if the process goes smoothly. But he said the situation should never have been allowed to develop in the first place.

“How did we get into this situation? I live in a town which is the most remote from any major hospital in the country, and they don’t have the option to just go to another hospital,” he said. “You’re talking up to Exeter, an hour and a half on a good day. Taunton, probably closer to two hours. By bus, you’re looking at two and a half hours. What we’ve got is lots of changes to how we expect pregnant women to cope with that, and it’s beyond me. It’s a really shocking state of affairs.”

Asked why the unit had closed, Mr Maguire pointed to a familiar cause. “I think it’s probably a range of issues, but the key issue the North Devon hospital trust has cited again and again is a lack of specialist maternity consultants who can staff the ward and keep it open,” he said.

But it was his own conversation with the trust that seemed to trouble him most. “I must admit, I was really disappointed when I met the trust. I asked them: how long have you had the advert up for the consultants? This is going back a few weeks. How long have you been recruiting, how long have you been advertising? Oh, well, the advert went up last Friday. And you just have your head in your hands,” he said. “This isn’t a situation that happens overnight. These are very well-paid people who run these hospital trusts.”

He acknowledged that recruiting specialist staff to rural areas was a wider, national problem, tied to the cost of housing in Devon and Cornwall making the region a harder sell to doctors. But he stopped short of letting the trust off the hook.

“I do deep down place a certain amount of blame at the door of the trust here,” he said. “It feels like they’ve kind of sleepwalked into this situation, and then, in a last-minute panic, closed a very, very important unit at North Devon Hospital.”

Since the closure, the trust’s own medical director, Dr Karen Davies, has resigned in protest, telling colleagues bosses could have produced a plan to avoid it. The Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust has said reopening the unit depends entirely on its ability to recruit permanent and temporary staff, while the Government has pointed to record numbers of doctors and midwives recruited nationally since 2024. For the women facing the drive to Exeter this autumn, neither has yet translated into a reopened ward.