A new Partido Té?

UNEMPLOYMENT is sky-high and growth is at best anaemic. Yet Spain’s prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, has at last seen off his country’s worst recession in decades, and can now start thinking about how best to recover lost votes before the general election that is due late next year. So why is he kicking things off by proposing a bill sharply to restrict abortion, an idea that is opposed by the vast majority of Spaniards?

The abortion bill, passed through cabinet during the Christmas period, is a reminder that, although Mr Rajoy's Popular Party (PP) claims to be liberal on economic issues, it is socially conservative. The bill would replace a woman’s right to abortion on demand during the first 14 weeks of pregnancy with a system requiring proof of potential damage to a mother’s mental or physical health. Four out of five Spaniards dislike the proposal. Even most PP voters think it unnecessary. And it comes with another new piece of legislation, a law-and-order bill giving the police extraordinary powers to fine people who are deemed to have insulted them, Spain or their local town halls. Fines for these last two can reach €30,000.