Labour Blocks Tory Attempt to Ban on First Cousin Couples Obtaining UK Visas – Guido Fawkes

Labour Blocks Tory Attempt to Ban on First Cousin Couples Obtaining UK Visas

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Banning first cousin marriage is becoming a particularly awkward one for Labour. They’ve blocked Richard Holden’s bill to ban it three times despite the well-documented health risks and the cost to the NHS. Even Starmer’s right-hand man Pat McFadden couldn’t say whether he supported banning first cousin marriage or not. Yesterday, the Tories tabled an amendment to the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, proposing the following clause:

“Restrictions on visas for spouses and civil partners: Leave to enter the United Kingdom as a spouse or civil partner shall be refused if the parties concerned are first cousins.”

Labour blocked it at the borders bill committee yesterday. Now Richard Holden tells Guido:

“The Labour Government sometimes like to pretend that they don’t think first cousin marriages are a good idea. But every time they have the opportunity to tackle this scourge that damages inter-community relations, women’s rights and has colossal costly implications for people’s health and for the NHS, they block any action. And now we’ve finally seen Labour voting against banning foreigners coming to the UK for first cousin marriages as part of the Borders Bill. Labour pretend they care about our borders, they pretend they care about cohesive communities with shared values, they pretend they care about women’s rights but when it comes down to it, Starmer’s Labour Party are all about the vested interest of controlling, misogynistic voter blocks than in the interest of our country.”

Ouch. This one’s getting stickier for Labour…