Hammond: gay marriage and Lords reform are low priorities
DEFENCE secretary Philip Hammond has said House of Lords reform and proposals to legalise gay marriage are not priorities because the government must focus on policies “that matter”.
He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show: “Legislation on the House of Lords is in the Queen’s Speech. It will be introduced, and it will proceed. The question will be to what extent the government should be prepared to clear the decks of everything else in order to possibly deal with a lengthy and very complex war of attrition over this particular piece of legislation.”
On the subject of gay marriage, which is supported by Prime Minister David Cameron but opposed by families minister Tim Loughton, Hammond said the potential change was “clearly” not “the number one priority”.
“If you stop people in the street and ask them what their concerns are, they’ll talk to you about jobs and economic growth, they’ll talk to you about the level of the wages they’re earning, wanting to see real growth in wages again. They’ll talk about rising prices, they’ll talk about crime, they’ll talk about immigration,” Hammond said.
“But I think the government has got to show over the next couple of years that it is focused on the things that matter to the people in this country.”
The government backed off from introducing a bill for same-sex marriages in the Queen’s Speech, but outlined plans to replace appointed peers with a largely elected second chamber.