Archbishop of Birmingham Vincent Nichols threatened to withdraw Catholic co-operation with the Government over schools, charity programmes and adoption agencies if the new sexual orientation regulations go ahead. The fierce assault on the new laws signalled an ominous deepening of the row between Labour and the churches over the new laws, which are designed to stop businesses from discriminating against homosexuals. Archbishop Nichols declared that ministers were "engaged in an intense and at times aggressive reshaping of our moral framework". And he added that "those who are elected to fashion our laws are not elected to be our moral tutors. They have no mandate or competence to be so."

Archbishop Nichols gave his scathing verdict in a sermon in St Chad's Cathedral. He told the congregation: "The Government must realise that it is not possible to seek co-operation with us while at the same time trying to impose upon us conditions which contradict our moral values.