Why do so many British Pakistanis marry their cousins? Why is it a political issue now?

A debate on banning marriages between cousins has gripped the United Kingdom, where it is not illegal to marry your first cousin. However, the cultural practice has come under scrutiny in recent months.

In December last year, Conservative MP Richard Holden introduced legislation in the UK Parliament, arguing “the practice is not really conducive to modern British society.” He called for outlawing consanguineous marriages, pointing to “serious concerns” about the health risks of children of couples who are biological relatives.

A large majority of Britons oppose such unions, a survey found in May. But many are against banning cousin marriages. But why?

Let’s take a closer look.

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Cousin marriages in the UK

Marriage between cousins has been legal in the UK since the 16th century. Queen Victoria and Charles Darwin are among the prominent Britons who married their cousins.

However, the practice later faded and became taboo as families became smaller and the awareness about genetic risks to babies born out of such unions grew. Despite this, cousin marriages are normal in some communities in the UK.

Today, between 40 and 60 per cent of the British Pakistani community are in consanguineous marriages, Patrick Nash, an expert on religious law and director of the Pharos Foundation social science research group, said, according to The Week.

Cousin marriages are also acceptable in certain parts of the world, including South Asia, West Asia and North Africa.

An estimated 10 to 15 per cent of newborns have parents who are biological relatives, reported Deutsche Welle.

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The cultural practice is about securing wealth and property and keeping the family together. There is an “optimistic assumption” that such unions would reduce the risk of rifts between in-laws, as per The Economist.

3/4th Britons want cousin marriages outlawed

About 77 per cent of Britons believe first cousin marriage should be illegal, according to a YouGov poll in May.

It also found that 47 per cent of British Pakistanis and Bangladeshis wanted the practice to be banned, while 39 per cent said it should be legal.

Some 77 per cent of white and Indian Britons supported prohibiting cousin marriages, compared to 82 per cent of black Britons.

Eight per cent of white Britons do not oppose consanguineous marriages. Six per cent of black Britons and nine per cent of Indian Britons said marrying your cousin should be legal.

A political hot topic

Cousin marriages were thrown into the limelight last December when Tory MP Richard Holden proposed a bill to ban first-cousin marriage in the UK. The legislation has been supported by Robert Jenrick, the runner-up in last year’s Conservative leadership election.

“The British Pakistani community and, to a lesser degree, the Irish traveller community are removing themselves from wider society and closing themselves off,” Holden claimed.

The second reading of the bill in the House of Commons is likely this month.

Holden told DailyMail after YouGov’s poll in May, “The overwhelming majority of Brits, including those of Pakistan i heritage, want to see first cousin marriage banned.

“The fact Sir Keir Starmer and the Labour Party are standing in the way of ending an outdated practice rooted in misogynistic cultural practices shows that he’s more interested in promoting cultural relativism than in ending practices that have no place in our country and isolate both individuals and communities from each other.

“If Starmer really believed in British values he’d back my bill, just like every community in Britain does.”

Among the different reasons for those wanting a ban on cousin marriages, one is the health risks to kids born to parents who are related.

As per a briefing on childhood deaths in Bradford, Birmingham and the London borough of Redbridge, “20-40 per cent” of them may be “due to genetic disorders associated with consanguinity and chromosomal conditions", reported The Week.

The Born in Bradford study found that a child with a first cousin is six per cent more likely to have a congenital health problem, compared to three per cent in the broader population.

Joyce Harper, a professor in reproductive science at University College London, told BBC that the children born out of a consanguineous relationship could have genetic disease if both parents have faulty genes.

“The issue with cousins marrying is what we call recessive diseases, so things like cystic fibrosis and thalassaemia where both of the couple have to have an error in that same gene.

“So genetics is the main worry, but there are other risks, but it’s still very low and I just don’t think it’s our right to dictate. I think it’s our right to educate those communities.”

As per a 2021 study, 55 per cent of British Pakistanis are married to first cousins. However, the practice has been on the decline.

The Born in Bradford project, which studied 13,500 families between 2007 and 2011, found that 60 per cent of couples with Pakistani roots were either first cousins, second cousins or other blood relatives.

But this figure plunged from 60 to 40 per cent in a follow-up study between 2016 and 2020. The rates of consanguineous marriage were around 30 per cent for couples of Pakistani heritage who were both born in the UK.

Norway has banned cousin marriages, while Sweden and Denmark also plan a similar move.  As this demand surfaces in the UK, many have warned that outlawing cousin marriages would stigmatise those who are already in such unions.

Independent MP Iqbal Mohamed said earlier that such a ban would be ineffective and called for a “more positive approach”, such as advanced genetic tests for prospective married cousins. He also suggested education programmes to raise awareness of the health risks.

Professor Dominic Wilkinson, an NHS neonatologist and ethics expert at the University of Oxford, has also opposed a ban on consanguineous marriages, calling it “unethical”. Instead, he proposed offering special screening on the NHS to help such couples decide if they should consider having children.

Nazir Afzal, a former chief prosecutor for north-west England, said last year that cousin marriage should remain legal, highlighting the falling rates. Politicising the issue would mean Muslims “will be reluctant to talk about it and educate others if they think it’s just a hammer which the far right would use to attack their communities”, he said at a public debate.

With inputs from agencies