The new Archbishop of Canterbury has issued a challenge to David Cameron by insisting that marriage should 
remain “between a man and a woman”.
In his first official day as leader of the Church of England, Rt Rev Justin Welby voiced his opposition gay marriage on the eve of the first parliamentary vote on the controversial new law.
As MPs prepare for the vote on gay marriage today, Bishop Welby gave his first interviews after being officially confirmed in the post in a ceremony at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, the Daily Telegraph reports.
The new Archbishop spoke out as Conservative critics of the reforms escalated their protests before the House of Commons vote. Ministers were faced with accusations that legalising same-sex marriage would “tear the Tory party apart”, as MPs claimed the proposed protections for churches were inadequate.
Up to 200 of the 303 Tory MPs could rebel or abstain during today’s vote, leaving Cameron reliant on Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs to pass the measure.
The Archbishop of Southwark, the Most Rev Peter Smith, said the Bill is “ridiculous”.
He urged Catholics to pray for its defeat and to lobby their MPs. Archbishop Smith, who is the second most senior Catholic cleric in England and Wales, said: “The definition of marriage as a union of one man and one woman pre-dates both the state and the church and as such neither has the right to change it. The complementarity of the marital relationship is hard-wired into human nature.”
The Most Reverend Bernard Longley, the Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham, urged all MPs who were “uncertain, wavering or planning to abstain” to gather their “courage” and vote against the “ill-conceived Bill”.
“This Bill is being rushed through Parliament by the Prime Minister without a mandate and without proper consultation,” he said.
The Church of England has written a eight-page briefing note on the Bill to every MP ahead of the vote. It warns that the legislation has been prepared in “great haste” and will have a “chilling effect” on teachers and public officials who express the view that marriage should be between a man and a woman.
“We doubt the ability of the Government to make the legislation watertight against challenge in the European courts or against a ‘chilling effect’ in public discourse,” it says. “We retain serious doubts about whether the proffered legal protection for churches and faiths from discrimination claims would prove durable. Too much emphasis, we believe, is being placed on the personal assurances of ministers.”
The Conservative rebels who wrote to Downing Street are calling for the Bill to be delayed until after the next election in 2015 to allow the party and the public “more time” to debate such a radical social change.
Meanwhile, a group of senior local Conservatives has written to the Prime Minister urging him to delay a vote on gay marriage until after the next election.
The letter, written by 23 former or current constituency chairmen, says the plans have not been talked through.
It reads: “We feel very strongly that the decision to bring this Bill before Parliament has been made without adequate debate or consultation with either the membership of the Conservative Party or with the country at large.”
The group says they are concerned about the “growing discord” within the Conservative Party.
They wrote in the letter that if the Bill is passed, “Long-held religious and personal freedoms and the right to free speech will be adversely affected”.
Edmund Costelloe, who recently resigned as chairman of Somerton and Frome Conservative Association over the gay marriage proposals, said: “Many of us feel a huge sense of personal betrayal over these plans.”
Mr Costelloe said: “We are also shocked by the way in which it is being pushed through with so little regard for proper scrutiny.”
He added: “There is huge public concern at the local level and we are seeing people leave the Party. It is certainly not a vote winner.”