The White House has attacked Sir Keir Starmer for Labour’s refusal to support legislation banning first-cousin marriage in the UK, with Donald Trump’s free speech tsar, Sarah Rogers, framing the issue as a “civilisational” concern.
First-cousin marriage, particularly common among some South Asian communities, remains legal in Britain despite increasing the risk of genetic disorders in children. Rogers, an undersecretary in the US State Department, shared a video on X showing Starmer declining to back a private member’s bill on the matter during Prime Minister’s Questions last March.
“I’ve received questions about what we mean in our National Security Strategy when we invoke ‘civilisational’ concerns,” Rogers wrote alongside the video. “So I’m tweeting a relevant news item.” The White House last month published a 29-page security report warning Europe faces “civilisational erasure” if migration is not curtailed.
Read related news from New Daily Prime:
Chinese embassy’s underground rooms spark UK security concerns
Nigeria’s reaction to America invading Venezuela
Marriage principles: Things Nigerians need to know before saying I do
During the PMQs exchange, Conservative MP Richard Holden, who introduced the bill, stressed the health and women’s rights implications of first-cousin marriage. “The Government has a chance to let my bill go through to committee stage,” he said. “Will the Prime Minister think again before instructing his whips to block this legislation?”
The Prime Minister responded briefly: “We’ve taken our position on that bill, thank you.”
Rogers amplified the debate, sharing a Wikipedia article linking cousin marriage in some Middle Eastern countries to honour killings, and sarcastically referencing potential UK government censorship of Wikipedia to prevent such information.
Holden, now Labour’s shadow transport secretary, accused the party of “turning a blind eye” to the issue and hiding its “secretive support” for first-cousin marriage. He called it a matter involving serious health risks, community isolation, and suppression of personal freedoms.
The NHS has also faced criticism for an article last year praising cousin marriage for “stronger extended family support systems and economic advantages,” despite the heightened risk of conditions such as sickle cell disease and cystic fibrosis in children of closely related parents.
While cousin marriage has declined to around 1% in both the UK and US, certain communities still practise it more widely; in three inner-city wards of Bradford, almost half of Pakistani mothers were married to a first or second cousin. In the US, marriage between first cousins remains legal in over 15 states.
The debate highlights a growing transatlantic scrutiny of cultural practices linked to health, women’s rights, and social cohesion, as international figures weigh in on UK domestic legislation.
For more details, visit www.newdailyprime.news
