A Tory MP's bill to ban marriage between cousins ​​is damaging and putting lives at risk, experts have warned

A bill proposing to abolish marriage between first cousins ​​was criticized by experts before it was read a second time on Friday.

The Marriage (Prohibited Degrees of Relationship) Bill was proposed by Tory MP for Basildon and Billericay Richard Holden, who said the practice posed “dangers to life, liberty… the cohesion of our society”.

Speaking in December last year, the MP said: “Cousin marriage is a cause for concern in the UK and around the world.

“Research shows that it is associated with almost twice the rate of birth defects compared to the general population and can reinforce negative structures and control women.”

Professor Neil Small, who co-authored the Born in Bradford study which tracks people's lives in the city and includes the largest body of evidence on children born to cousins ​​in the UK, told Caretaker that the ban would risk “potential damage to health”.

He said the ban could discourage people from getting married because of the need for a test, which could “remove the protection of the law if something goes wrong.”

Professor Small added: “I think that tends to harm women, and, in that sense, it's potentially bad for health.”

He went on to say that the issue would be “better handled” with “genetic testing” that is readily available and education about the risks.

The professor said “inflammatory rhetoric” from Conservative politicians could turn people off from “science-based” methods that could help them make informed decisions when “the single biggest thing that harms children's health is deprivation”.

He pointed out that although there is an “increased risk” of children's health in cousin marriage, it tends to be “a very small number of people”.

“Whenever the consequences are severe, they produce high infant mortality rates and high morbidity rates for other children,” he said.

A spokesman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community UK, which represents 30,000 Muslims, called the bill “harmful” and said it would “curb basic freedoms and discrimination”.

The charity Karma Nirvana, which works with survivors of forced marriage and subject-based abuse, has condemned the bill, calling instead for a “thoughtful, survivor-led approach” informed by “those at the forefront who understand the profound consequences of this union”.

“[We] we cannot support Richard Holden's bill … not because we allow cousin marriage, but because we believe that the real agenda is not to deal with the harm that can come from it, but to use it as a tool to score political points, to incite hatred and to drive division between communities.”

The charity's CEO Natasha Rattu called the “Islamophobic” backlash over the bill and said it “doesn't agree with anyone affected by the negative effects of first cousin marriage, who will, after seeing that, be more reluctant to get help if they need it.”

He went on to say that preventing the marriage of first cousins ​​and chasing the law “is not the best way to do it” and the people affected by it should be consulted before any action is taken.