Gays 'cannot raise children safely' - Welsh Secretary (From Free Press Series)

Gays 'cannot raise children safely' - Welsh Secretary, David Jones

2:44pm Friday 15th February 2013 in News

WELSH Secretary David Jones came under fire today after claiming in a TV interview that gay couples "clearly’’ could not provide a "warm and safe environment’’ to raise children.

The Tory MP, who voted against the Government's plans to introduce gay marriage in the Commons last week, made his remarks to ITV Wales's Face To Face programme.

Shadow Welsh secretary Owen Smith blasted the comments as evidence that the "nasty party is alive and well under David Cameron’’.

Mr Jones said: "I regard marriage as an institution that has developed over many centuries, essentially for the provision of a warm and safe environment for the upbringing of children, which is clearly something that two same-sex partners can't do.

"Which is not to say that I'm in any sense opposed to stable and committed same-sex partnerships.’’ Mr Jones said he did not believe he was homophobic, insisting he had "people in my life who are important to me who are gay’’.

The Welsh Secretary said he took the chance of a free vote to oppose the plan, which he said he believed his constituents opposed.

But Mr Smith said: "These comments reveal that the nasty party is alive and well under David Cameron.

"That such views exist in the heart of the Tory Cabinet provides yet more evidence of how out of touch the Tories are with modern Britain, and how David Cameron's claim to have changed his party is, like so many of his promises, nothing more than empty words.

"David Jones's comments are profoundly offensive and he should apologise immediately.’’