Focus on economic recovery not gay marriage, PM told

Families struggling to pay their bills and their mortgage don’t care about issues like gay marriage, they need the economy back on its feet again, the Sunday Express says in an editorial yesterday.

Meanwhile one Tory MP has told the Telegraph that party members are leaving in their droves: “I’ve had lots of resignations over the gay marriage policy and over Europe. Ultimately, my members don’t know what David Cameron stands for or what kind of Tory he is.” Top Tory donors are also annoyed.

In Scotland, a decision is expected soon on whether Alex Salmond’s Nationalist Government will go ahead with gay marriage. The Scottish Roman Catholic Church has vowed to battle against any plans to meddle with the meaning of marriage, pledging a £100,000 war chest.

At some point the Scots are expected to have a referendum on independence, and Cardinal Keith O’Brien has today called for one on redefining marriage. He says the public are far more interested in the marriage issue than independence, judging by the volume of responses sent in to the relevant public consultations.

Redefining marriage attracted 77,000 responses – 50,000 of which are reported to be against the plan. The consultation on an independence referendum attracted just 21,000.

At the time, First Minister Alex Salmond said 21,000 was a “mighty” response, causing one religious campaigner to joke: “If that’s a mighty response, then ours is almighty.” Maybe that’s why gay activists in Scotland are running scared of a referendum – because they know they could lose the argument.