Peter Bottomley
Main Page: Peter Bottomley (Conservative - Worthing West)
Maria Miller
My right hon. Friend obviously has strong views on the question. My priority is to allow same-sex couples to marry and not to overhaul marriage law, but he is right to say that we need to work with religious leaders. I will start those discussions as soon as the statement has finished.
Sir Peter Bottomley (Worthing West) (Con)
As all marriages now are between different-sex people, it is surprising that only 61% regard marriage in such a way—it should be 100%. Like my hon. Friends who disagree with me on this, I would hope that 200 years ago I would have been part of the Clapham sect, and I think it would be a good idea to have a joint opinion poll from the Freedom to Marry campaign and the Coalition for Marriage asking a yes/no question. We could then work from the same figures, which would probably show that two thirds of the population want this legislation to go through. I support that.
Maria Miller
I would suggest that it is the role of Parliament to debate such issues. I would not want to rely on opinion polls to determine such an important issue.