Backlash over gay weddings

Culture Secretary Maria Miller promised no church would ever be forced to conduct a gay wedding as she faced a furious backlash from traditionalist Tories over the Westminster government’s plans for same-sex weddings south of the border.

Announcing the government’s formal response to a public consultation yesterday, Mrs Miller said she was putting in place a “quadruple lock” to guarantee religious organisations would not have to marry same-sex couples against their wishes.

But the move did little to assuage the anger on the Conservative benches, where the proposals were denounced as an attack on the centuries-old definition of marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

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