Watch: Independent MP opposes first cousin marriage ban

To the Commons, where this afternoon a rather odd intervention took place. The Westminster rumour mill was in overdrive today as word spread that a Member of Parliament was planning to speak against a bill calling for a ban on marriages between first cousins. Not long after speculation began, it was confirmed that a new parliamentarian did indeed want to make his opposition known: one Iqbal Mohamed, Independent MP for Dewsbury and Batley and a member of Jeremy Corbyn’s pro-Gaza group. Good heavens…

Speaking to fellow parliamentarians today, Mohamed first accepted: ‘There are documented health risks with first cousin marriage and I agree this is an issue.’ He remarked that while ‘forced marriage must be prevented and the freedom of women must be protected,…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’.