I shall carry on, because other colleagues wish to speak.
I do not agree that this is about discrimination, persecution or prejudice—words that have been used this afternoon and, dare I say it, thrown around the Chamber a bit like confetti. This is about the Christian faith. I am not a great practising Christian—I am not here in my box—but this is about the Christian faith, and we are in effect undermining its core belief that marriage is between a man and a woman. I have heard the word, “want”—“We want this”—again and again and again. All of us want lots of things, but there are consequences. What I have not heard in the cry for rights is the word, “responsibilities”. One member of my constituency, a gay man, said to me, “Richard, I do not agree with this, because I respect the institution of
marriage, and I do not want to undermine that in any way. There is no call for that, and I do not want the gay community to go there.”
Finally, it is a sad day when a Conservative Prime Minister uses, in effect, the Opposition and our colleagues on the Front Benches to push this through. It is a sad day for democracy, and a sad day for our party.
6.34 pm