A former British Conservative minister and currently serving MP has renewed his push in Parliament for legislation that bans first-cousin marriage. This initiative has faced opposition from the ruling Labour party, including Prime Minister Keir Starmer and a British-Muslim MP.
During a parliamentary debate, Conservative MP Richard Holden stated, “A marriage between first cousins carries significant health issues, many of which aren’t even knowable until post-birth.” He emphasized that when this practice occurs generation after generation, there is a significant multiplier effect.
Medical research has established the adverse health effects on the children of first cousin marriages. Holden remarked, “The real impacts on the openness of our society and women’s rights in our country are significant. After all, there are significant dynamics in sharing the same set of grandparents.”
Holden urged Starmer to “think again” about blocking his legislation from progressing. In response, Starmer stated, “We’ve taken our position on that Bill, thank you.”
‘TRUMP EFFECT’ ON DISPLAY AS UK’S STARMER BOOSTS DEFENSE SPENDING ON EVE OF US VISIT
As reported by The Daily Mail, nearly 46% of females from the Pakistani community in Bradford, England, had a “common ancestor,” according to a 2024 study. A government report indicated that this number was at 62% just ten years earlier.
While the prime minister’s office has not explicitly stated the reasons for opposing the bill’s codification into law, a spokesperson for Starmer told Fox News Digital, “Expert advice on the risks of first-cousin marriages is clear. In terms of legislation and what the government set up in the King’s Speech after the election, we do not want people to enter into cousin marriages.”
He continued, “We are focused on ensuring that every part of the government addresses issues that matter to the British public. We laid out our legislative priorities in the King’s Speech.”
With a significant influx of migrants from the Middle East and North Africa to Scandinavian countries, the BBC has reported that Norway has banned cousin marriage, while a similar ban is expected to take effect in Sweden next year.
The failure to codify a ban on interfamily marriage among first cousins has provoked outrage among many prominent conservative figures in the United Kingdom.
Ben Habib, chairman of the Great British Political Action Committee, expressed to Fox News Digital, “Liberalism in the U.K. is out of control. In the pursuit of allowing individuals to do whatever they like, sanity is being set aside. It matters not whether that which you wish to do is deeply damaging. If you’re a minority, you are granted a protective blanket and encouraged to continue.”
BRACE FOR A ‘POLITICAL REVOLUTION’ IN EUROPE, UK’S NIGEL FARAGE SAYS AFTER VANCE’S SPEECH IN MUNICH
Habib further commented, “Marrying cousins was a practice that exited Western culture over a hundred years ago. It’s now back with a vengeance due to mass immigration from cultures that haven’t kept pace with ours. Instead of requiring them to adopt our approach, the British government allows this debilitating practice to continue. Liberalism is reversing cultural advancement, and our government is complicit. This insanity must stop.”
During a parliamentary debate regarding the bill, Independent MP Iqbal Mohamed, who opposes a legislative prohibition on first-cousin marriage, acknowledged, “There are documented health risks associated with first-cousin marriage.” He asserted that this issue “needs greater awareness,” but he believes the solution is not to empower the state to ban adults from marrying each other, as he does not think a ban would be “effective or enforceable.”
Medical experts indicate that children of first-cousin marriages are particularly vulnerable to contracting autosomal recessive genetic disorders.
Mohamed stated, “The matter should be approached as a health awareness issue and a cultural issue where women are being coerced into marriage.”
He noted that an estimated 35% to 50% of all sub-Saharan populations prefer or accept first-cousin marriage, a practice that is also common in the Middle East and South Asia. In July 2024, British voters pulled the plug on the Conservative Party’s 14-year reign and voted in Starmer’s leftist Labour Party.
