David Cameron has been encouraged to ditch his controversial plans to rewrite the definition of marriage by an editorial in one of the nation’s biggest newspapers.
Wednesday’s edition of the Daily Mail says the Prime Minister “didn’t begin to think through the implications” of redefining marriage.
And the paper, which has a readership of over four million people, says that a u-turn on the issue “can’t come soon enough”.
Tinkering
The paper’s editorial says: “What the Prime Minister failed to consider was the truly momentous legal, constitutional and religious significance of tinkering with the meaning of the word ‘marriage’ to embrace homosexuals.
“Had he done so, he would know that he was inviting an unholy row with every major religion, raising hugely complex questions about the Establishment of the Church of England and the relationship between church and state.
“As we now learn, he was also opening up the deeply disturbing possibility that the European Court of Human Rights could require ministers of religion to marry same-sex couples, against their most profoundly-held convictions.”
Hornets
It continues: “What is so incredible is that Mr Cameron has chosen to stir up this hornets’ nest at a time of dire economic crisis, when families and businesses need all the help they can get just to keep going.
“How can he fuss with this irrelevance, when he has yet to do anything about honouring his promise to give families and social stability a boost by recognising traditional marriage in the tax system?
“This is displacement politics of the most shameful kind. The U-turn can’t come soon enough.”
Petition
On Tuesday afternoon a mass petition organised by the Coalition for Marriage, calling for the definition of marriage to remain unchanged, was delivered to Downing Street.
The Government’s public consultation on redefining marriage closed yesterday.