An independent member of parliament voiced opposition to a planned British restriction on first-cousin marriages.
Iqbal Mohamed, MP for Dewsbury and Batley, told the House of Commons that many people view family intermarriage as ‘very positive’.
He said it was seen as something that could help ‘build family bonds’ and put families on a more secure financial foothold’.
Mr Mohamed admitted there were ‘health risks’ for the children of such marriages.
But he said a ‘more positive approach’ would be to ‘facilitate advanced genetic test screening’ for couples wishing to marry.
He also called for ‘education programmes’ to be targeted at those communities where family intermarriage is most common, as he told MPs to reject an outright ban.
Mr Mohamed voiced his opposition to Richard Holden, a Tory MP, who was trying to introduce new laws forbidding first-cousin marriages.
The former Conservative Party chairman introduced his Marriage (Prohibited Degrees of Relationship) Bill to the Commons via a ten-minute rule motion.
Mr Holden told MPs: ‘Members across the House may wonder why first-cousin marriage is not already illegal.
‘In fact, many in this House and in the country may already think it is. And that is understandable.’
The MP for Basildon and Billericay added that laws on first-cousin marriage had been left ‘unchanged’ since the reign of Henry VIII.
He warned there had been a ‘worrying trend’ of an increased rate of cousins marrying among some communities in Britain – although he noted there were reports of rates falling in the last decade as ‘young people push back against this system’.
Mr Holden outlined ‘health, freedom and our national values’ as three areas of concern over family intermarriage in the UK.
He urged the Labour Government to look at his Bill as a ‘vehicle for positive change in our country’, adding: ‘Because, in the end, it’s about more than one marriage – it’s about the values and foundations of our society and our democracy.’
Mr Mohamed, who is part of the Independent Alliance of MPs – including ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, agreed there were ‘documented health risks with first-cousin marriage’.
He also spoke of the need to prevent so-called ‘virginity testing’ and forced marriages, adding the ‘freedom of women must be protected at all times’.
But, speaking against Mr Holden’s Bill, Mr Mohamed said ‘The way to redress this is not to empower the state to ban adults from marrying each other, not least because I don’t think it would be effective or enforceable’.
‘Instead, the matter needs to be approached as a health awareness issue, a cultural issue where women are being forced against their will to undergo marriage,’ he told MPs.
‘In doing so it is important to recognise for many people that this is a highly sensitive issue and in discussing it we should try to step into the shoes of those who perhaps are not from the same culture as ours, to better understand why the practice continues to be so widespread.
‘An estimated 35-50 per cent of all sub-Saharan African populations either prefer or accept cousin marriages and it is extremely common in the Middle East and in South Asia.
‘The reason the practice is so common is that ordinary people see family intermarriage overall as something that is very positive, something that helps build family bonds, and helps put families on a more secure financial foothold.
‘However, as is well documented, it is not without health risks for the children of those relationships.’
Urging MPs to oppose Mr Holden’s proposed ban, Mr Mohamed added: ‘Instead of stigmatising those who are in cousin marriages or those inclined to be, a much more positive approach would be to facilitate advanced genetic test screening for prospective married couples, as is the case in all Arab countries in the Persian Gulf.
‘And, more generally, to run health education programmes targeting those communities where the practice is most common.’
Mr. Holden requested that his bill be taken up for a second reading on January 17 of the following year.
However, the amount of legislative time allocated to such private members’ bills to pass the required stages makes it difficult for it to become law.
If the government supports it, it might advance more quickly.
According to current law, relationships with a parent, sibling, or child are barred from marriage, however, first-cousin weddings are not.
Despite the health dangers, Downing Street stated that the government had no intention of outlawing first-cousin weddings.
A No 10 spokesman said: ‘I think the expert advice on the risks of first-cousin marriage are clear.
‘But in terms of legislation, the Government has set out its priorities.’
For millennia, this interbreeding has been taking place. Although I believe that genetic testing should be done before having children, two of my family members married their first cousins, therefore there was nothing wrong with them when they decided to have children.
People were forced to marry their blood relations around the turn of the century and even earlier because of the high rate of sickness, which left bereaved husbands and wives with children with no other option.
Queen Victoria married her first cousin and George V married his second cousin. It even occurred in some other walks of life. However, haemophilia was a sickness that was carried through the royal families for three generations after Queen Victoria but has since vanished. Today, none of Queen Victoria’s living descendants have haemophilia.
There are undoubtedly many more important laws or measures that need to be passed or changed in Parliament than this one that is now occupying the House. However, considering that many of his voters are originating from nations where intimate inter-family marriage is quite popular, it is not surprising who this MP represents or why he does not want the Bill to pass.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 