A Labour politician in Britain has suggested that the Westminster Parliament should legislate for same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland if the Stormont Assembly falls.

Despite four failed votes in three years at Stormont on the issue of same-sex marriage, Ivan Lewis, Shadow Secretary for Northern Ireland said that any suspension of Stormont would provide an opportunity for Westminster to introduce the measure nonetheless.

Quoted in The Guardian newspaper as he delivered an address to the LGBT community in Belfast, at a time when members of the Assembly were immersed in a deep political crisis over power-sharing with Sinn Fein arising from claims of a still-existing IRA, Lewis said: “In the unfortunate and undesirable event of the current political crisis in Northern Ireland leading to suspension of the political institutions, my party believes the government should give serious consideration to introduce legislation at Westminster to extend same-sex marriage to Northern Ireland.”

Lewis went on that while he respected the right of individual Assembly members to oppose the redefinition of marriage from a religious standpoint, he added that he did not accept their right to “impose their religious beliefs on the legislative framework”.

In the absence for broad support at Stormont for same-sex marriage, Lewis said a referendum on the issue should be put to the people of Northern Ireland.