Tory MP’s bill to ban marriage between cousins is ‘damaging’ and ‘unenforceable’
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2025/jan/17/tory-bill-to-ban-marriage-between-cousins-is-damaging-and-unenforceable
by ThinkOfTheFood
Tory MP’s bill to ban marriage between cousins is ‘damaging’ and ‘unenforceable’
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2025/jan/17/tory-bill-to-ban-marriage-between-cousins-is-damaging-and-unenforceable
by ThinkOfTheFood
26 comments
Why, after a decade and a half in power, is this suddenly a big issue for Tories when they had plenty of time to put forward such legislation?
They used to do blood tests before marriage in the US, mainly to test for syphilis so it didn’t turn into the more serious congenital version. I’m not sure how a genetic test would work, but I’m sure we could make it a simple, quick process.
Moving here from the states which is far from perfect, this was an issue i didn’t not even realize was so prevalent here. Really the only difference I found extremely shocking when moving here. While not banned in every state, it is HEAVILY stigmatized and an open joke people make about southern states.
[Mapping of Legality of Cousin Marriages in America](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cousin_marriage_law_in_the_United_States)
Even if you did ban marriage between cousins, presumably that would only apply to state recognised weddings.
In communities where this practice is more common, it’s fairly common for a couple to be religiously married, but not married in the eyes of the state. So would a ban have any actual impact on outcomes?
What we need to do is a genetic test for an inbred marriage as part of the leave to remain as a spouse visa. The problem will go away then.
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As the researcher points out in this article, the issue is that this is aimed at certain pockets of the Muslim community where cousin marriage is more common – but these couples usually marry via a nikkah, not a legal ceremony. All this will do is stop them from also marrying legally (which will mean the women in these marriages, who are often already in a vulnerable and precarious position, don’t get any legal protections). They’ll still consider themselves married in the eyes of Muslim law and they will still have children, so the issue will continue exactly the same as before.
The 6% rate of birth defects is crazy. Definitely needs to be banned.
I posted this on another sub but here is an article from 2019 also from the Guardian which cited that cousin marriages played a significant factor in child deaths in Bradford: [https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/feb/15/cousin-marriages-cited-as-significant-factor-bradford-child-deaths](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/feb/15/cousin-marriages-cited-as-significant-factor-bradford-child-deaths)
Surely if this helps reduce child deaths that is a good thing? Maybe I am ignorant but there is no positives from marrying and having kids with your own cousin, we have known this for quite a large amount of time.
> Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Ahmadiyya Muslim Community UK, which represents 30,000 Muslims, said a “damaging” ban would “curb fundamental freedoms and stigmatise”, and that “marriages within extended families often are a means of providing support, stability and love within the family unit”.
I wonder if the women get much of a say in who they marry in this circumstance.
It used to be illegal, and the Catholic Church banned it hundreds of years ago. Apparently the ban resulted in a much lower number of disabled children which were a drain on society, and I’ve heard it argued that this contributed to the rise of Europen growth and living standards.
It’s still fairly frowned upon now. My aunt was a nurse and she’d met married cousins who’d been ostracised by their family. They also had children with disabilities 😳
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Interesting choice of stock image from The Guardian.
This legislation is just common sense. It should absolutely be the case across Europe.
Enforcement is tough though – you could ask for birth certificates but it’s a lot of extra bureaucracy.
It’s one of those policies which privately everyone agrees with and should be law but no one wants to implement as it’s a vote loser. That’s why it’s being pushed by the party in opposition.
“Unenforceable”? Of all the rules around who you can and can’t marry in the UK, this seems one of the easier ones to nail down. Especially since the “expert” here is the CEO of a charity that has previously had “a leading role in campaigning for the criminalisation of forced marriage.” [1] So when they propose legislation to ban types of marriage, it’s okay, but when those they disagree with politically do it, it’s “damaging” and “unenforceable.” Hmmm.
[1] [https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/35610/pdf/](https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/35610/pdf/)
If they are marrying their cousins in sharia court it’s not a legal marriage and probably a struggle to enforce. Ban sharia courts as well.
Unless the proposal is to include first cousins in the legal definition of incest, this is nonsense. Because it isn’t marriage which causes people to make babies, it’s sex.
And if the aim of the bill is to reduce the number of congenital defects in children, presumably the bill will also want to prevent anyone who knows they carry a severe genetic abnormality from marrying or indeed having sex.
Or is it a piece of crap, ill considered legislation designed to make life harder for a few ethnic minorities and to appeal to the far-right whose only aim is to make life harder for those they hate?
I thought this was already a thing for at least decades. Surprised to hear it isn’t.
The main thing is that with this bill, you will be preventing “legal” marriages between cousins to happen, but you won’t stop marriages between cousins from happening.
Certain groups of people from a certain religion will continue to marry through a religious ceremony, which means that the only thing stopping that marriage from being a “marriage” is not being able to register it. But to their eyes, it will be considered as such.
How do the Tories, then, suggest to stop that from happening?
Why is this a conversation? There’s roughly 3.5 billion women in the world and 3.5 billion men, you can’t find someone you’re not directly related to out of all them?
Damaging and unenforceable?
“Are you first cousins? Marriage license denied”
Seems pretty enforceable to me, and damaging? Sure to the number of genetically deficient people in the country. But that’s a good thing
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Rare for me to agree with a Tory, but ban that shit. Cousin marriage is nasty.
I see this being fairly pointless. Communities that practise this will continue to have children together regardless. One small area it might be useful is to try to educate about the risks before getting married, I don’t see it as likely to sway a lot of people but will be cheaper than trying to enforce something.
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