EXCLUSIVE Keir Starmer and Labour are accused of standing in the way of a ban on cousins marrying each other - after poll shows British people want it axed
Sir Keir Starmer and the Labour party are standing in the way of a ban on cousins marrying each other, after a new poll showed an overwhelming majority of Britons want to see it axed, a Conservative MP has claimed.
Conservative MP Richard Holden last year introduced a private members' bill to ban the practice, which would bring cousin marriages into the same bracket as marrying a parent, child, sibling or grandparent.
Now a new YouGov poll has revealed the British communities that are most likely to back first cousin marriages, with a large majority thinking the practice should be outlawed.
The former Cabinet Minister and Conservative Party Chairman told MailOnline: 'This YouGov poll is clear.
'The overwhelming majority of Brits, including those of Pakistani heritage, want to see first cousin marriage banned.
'The fact Sir Keir Starmer and the Labour Party are standing in the way of ending an outdated practice rooted in misogynistic cultural practices shows that he's more interested in promoting cultural relativism than in ending practices that have no place in our country and isolate both individuals and communities from each other.
'If Starmer really believed in British values he'd back my bill, just like every community in Britain does.'
Pakistani and Bangladeshi Britons are most likely to support the first cousin marriages, with 39 percent of those polled saying it should be legal.
While 47 percent of the community say the practice should not be legal, this compares to just eight percent of white Britons who support first-cousin marriage.
Six percent of black Britons say marrying a cousin should be legal, with nine percent of Indian Britons holding the same view.
While marrying close relatives including siblings and half-siblings is illegal in the UK, marrying a first cousin is technically legal.
Some 77 percent of white and Indian Britons believe marrying a cousin should be made illegal, compared to 82 percent of black Britons.
Currently the UK follows the practice of 'genetic counselling', in which first cousins who are in a relationship are offered education about the risk of having children together and encouraged to receive extra checks during pregnancy.
It is estimated that children of a first-cousin union have a six percent chance of inheriting a recessive disorder such as cystic fibrosis or sickle cell disease - double the risk of the general population.
But some have warned that outlawing the practice completely risks stigmatising those already in first cousin marriages in the UK.
Amongst these was Independent MP Iqbal Mohamed, who drew huge criticism last year for defending cousin marriage.
Instead of banning it outright, he said a 'more positive approach' involving advanced genetic tests for prospective married cousins would be more effective in addressing issues around it.
One of Britain's foremost experts on child health also defended the right for first cousins to marry, dismissing concerns about inbreeding.
Professor Dominic Wilkinson, an NHS neonatologist and ethics expert at the University of Oxford, argued a ban would be 'unethical'.
Instead, Professor Wilkinson backed calls for such couples to be offered special screening on the NHS to help them decide if they should have children.
Such tests can cost £1,200 privately. They are designed to spot whether prospective parents are carriers for the same genetic conditions, such as cystic fibrosis and spinal muscular atrophy.
It comes as data from 2023 showed in three inner-city Bradford wards, 46 percent of mothers from the Pakistani community are married to a first or second cousin, according to data published in 2023.
The overall estimate for the cousing marriage capital of the UK in Pakistani couples was 37 percent ten years ago, and this figure has since dropped.
Reasons behind the fall are thought to include high educational attainment, stricter immigration rules and changes in family dynamics.
It compares to just one percent of white British couples.
YouGov's data also revealed that those in London are most likely to support first cousin marriage, at 15 percent.
The north followed at 12 percent, while in the Midlands it was ten percent. The south of England and Wales were the least likely to support it being legal, at six and seven percent respectively.
Historically, first cousin marriages were extremely common amongst royalty and the British upper classes. It was seen as a way of firming up alliances and keeping wealth and land in the family.
MailOnline recently revealed that no-one is tracking the rate of cousin marriages in the UK, with councils not recording any data on the issue.
Studies have put Pakistan as having one of the highest rates globally at 65 percent of unions.
This is followed by Saudi Arabia (50 percent), Afghanistan (40 percent), Iran (30 percent) and Egypt and Turkey (20 percent).
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
36 minutes ago
- Reuters
EU and Canada to deepen ties with new security pact
BRUSSELS, June 23 (Reuters) - The European Union hosts Canada for a summit on Monday designed to deepen their already close ties as both face increased geopolitical threats, including a more hostile U.S. president, Russia and Middle East instability. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa, who chairs EU summits, will greet Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney for a two-hour meeting in Brussels, a day before a NATO summit in the Hague. EU officials said the EU-Canada summit was not a "business as usual" meeting and marked a new era in bilateral ties. The two allies, who already have a free trade agreement, are due to agree to a security and defence partnership, the first the bloc has struck with a country from the Americas. The partnership will involve joint work on crisis management, cyber, maritime and space security, arms control, as well as support for Ukraine, which Russia invaded more than three years ago. It will also pave the way for Canadian companies to access the 150 billion euro ($172 billion) EU joint procurement programme SAFE. The two partners are also expected to launch negotiations on a digital agreement designed to shape global rules for data, such as on e-signatures and consumer protection or limits on spam. A draft of the joint statement refers to alignment of standards in digital regulation to make online platforms safer and more inclusive and AI systems more trustworthy, areas of regulation on which the United States has criticised the EU. ($1 = 0.8721 euros)
Reuters
42 minutes ago
- Reuters
Bank of England's Bailey defends bond programme after Reform UK criticism
LONDON, June 23 (Reuters) - Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey defended the central bank's programme of government bond purchases and sales which has come under fire from some politicians for its cost. In a letter to Richard Tice, deputy leader of the Reform UK party which is led by former Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage, Bailey said claims that the programme was more expensive than those run by other central banks did not tell the full story. Britain's government issued more long-term debt than other countries at a time when the BoE's bond-buying - or quantitative easing - was keeping borrowing costs low, giving the country a longer-lasting benefit, Bailey said. "Put simply, the cash flow cost of QE/QT is not therefore what it seems, and the outcome in these terms will be better," he said in the letter published on Monday. Reform - which is leading Britain's more established political parties in opinion polls - has said the government could save as much as 40 billion pounds ($53.6 billion) a year by stopping payment of interest to banks on reserves held at the BoE. Most of those reserves were created as a byproduct of the central bank's bond purchases which began in 2009 and reached a peak of almost 900 billion pounds in holdings in 2021. Since then, the BoE has sold much of its bond portfolio - known as quantitative tightening - and the programme is due to incur losses for the public finances because of a rise in interest rates and a subsequent fall in the value of the bonds. In his letter, Bailey said the bond purchases shielded Britain's economy from a string of economic shocks over the past 16 years. "It is easy to forget the severe problems we faced with these shocks," he said. "Although the counterfactual is unknowable with any precision, most estimates indicate that QE provided very significant support to the UK economy, protecting both jobs and tax revenues." Bailey said that ceasing paying interest on reserves was tantamount to increasing taxes on banks and would lead to lower interest payments for savers or higher interest rates for borrowers. He also disputed Reform's view that British banks were making excess profits. "Interest paid on reserves is not free money for the banks, not least as most of it is paid on to customers in the form of interest on their deposits," Bailey said.
Powys County Times
an hour ago
- Powys County Times
British Business Bank invests in entrepreneurs in £6.6bn funding commitment
The British Business Bank is to hand major investment to UK entrepreneurs as part of a £6.6 billion commitment to support innovation and industry. The UK Government's development bank has revealed the investment plans as part of Sir Keir Starmer's 10-year industrial strategy announcement. On Monday, the Prime Minister said he will cut electricity costs for thousands of businesses as part of the strategy, in a bid to help accelerate economic growth. The British Business Bank has seen its total financial capacity grow to £25.6 billion since the most recent spending review. 🆕 The Government has confirmed £6.6bn of new capital for the British Business Bank to boost growth. A new £4bn initiative, British Business Bank Industrial Strategy Growth Capital, will be invested across eight growth-driving sectors. Read more: — British Business Bank (@BritishBBank) June 23, 2025 It has said its latest £6.6 billion investment commitment will particularly help the rapid growth of small business across the UK. The Government said £4 billion will be invested through the new Industrial Strategy Growth Capital initiative, focusing on eight target sectors including advanced manufacturing, clean energy, digital, and life sciences. A further £2.6 billion will be aimed at supporting entrepreneurs across the UK, providing funds to help address regional funding gaps. Louis Taylor, chief executive of the British Business Bank, said: 'We welcome today's announcement by the secretary of state to deliver British Business Bank industrial strategy growth capital, as well as the reforms to the Bank's governance and financial framework. 'Using our market expertise and reach, we have a critical role to play in supporting smaller businesses in the eight growth-driving sectors to grow and stay in the UK. 'To deliver the Government's growth mission it is also critical that our most promising entrepreneurs can access the finance they need to grow their businesses, no matter what their background or where they are located across the nations and regions of the UK.'
