Grassroots Conservatives have had enough of their party’s plans to rewrite the definition of marriage, the head of the oldest Tory think-tank has said.
Ben Harris, Chairman of the Bow Group, said: “What we are seeing here is genuine fatigue among a party rank and file, disappointed both at the suggested policy itself, and the reasons behind it.
“The UK already has a system of ‘civil partnership’ for homosexuals which carries the same legal status as marriage before the state.”
Cynically
Mr Harris added: “The concern within the Conservative party is that this is a poorly thought out policy designed to cynically win support in the short term in the homosexual community, without due care and consideration to the existing institution of marriage in Britain.
“What should be of greater concern to David Cameron in addition to the lack of support for this policy he has among his own MPs, is that both ComRes and UK Sky News found in surveys that 70 per cent of respondents among the UK public agreed with the proposition that marriage should remain a ‘life-long exclusive commitment between a man and a woman only.'”
The Westminster Government is currently holding a three-month consultation on its plans to rewrite the definition of marriage.
Petition
The plans have attracted widespread opposition and a petition in support of the current definition of marriage has been signed by 450,000 people.
Earlier this month a survey revealed that most Conservative MPs doubt whether David Cameron’s controversial plan to redefine marriage will succeed.
Last week Ann Widdecombe, the former Tory MP, said that she did not campaign for David Cameron “all day, every day in the last general election” so that he could destroy traditional marriage.
Election
Last month influential Conservative commentator Tim Montgomerie warned that David Cameron’s plan to rewrite the definition of marriage is not a vote winner.
And Lord Tebbit, a former chairman of the Conservative Party, said that Mr Cameron’s plans for same-sex marriage are ill-considered and will not win him the next election.