Three quarters of Britons say no
The health implications of marriage between first cousins are coming under increased scrutiny in the UK and across Europe, with babies born to such couples having a higher likelihood of suffering from genetic disorders.
In Britain – and indeed across much of the world – it is legal to marry one of your first cousins (that is, a child of one of your parent’s siblings). Parliament is currently scrutinising proposed legislation by Tory MP Richard Holden to ban first cousin marriages, with the bill’s second reading expected in July.
New YouGov research shows that three quarters of Britons (77%) say first cousin marriage should not be legal, with only 9% thinking the law should remain as it is. Prohibiting first cousin marriage is popular across the main parties, with 76-77% of Labour, Lib Dem and Tory voters opposed to the practice, as well as 82% of Reform UK voters.
Cousin marriage is more common among some South Asian minority communities in the UK, with a recent Born in Bradford study finding that almost half (46%) of mothers from the Pakistani community in three inner-city Bradford wards were married to a first or second cousin. This is borne out by the results, with a poll of ethnic minority Britons finding that 39% of British Pakistanis and Bangladeshis say cousin marriage should be legal – although 47% of this group still say the practice should be prohibited.
By contrast, Black and Indian Britons are about as (un)likely to support cousin marriage as White Britons (6-9%).
See the full results for...
General population and white Britons here
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Photo: Getty
