Minimum age for marriage could rise to 18 in a bid to stop forced weddings

Minimum age for marriage could rise to 18 in a bid to stop forced weddings of 16 and 17-year-olds who tie knot overseas with their parents’ consent

• Almost 12,000 possible forced marriage cases were flagged up last year
• Current legislation allows children aged 16 or 17 with their parent’s consent 
• A private members bill in the Commons to raise the age to 18 was introduced 
• It was agreed yesterday that the bill should be sent forward to a second reading 

The minimum age for marriage could rise to 18 to help protect those forced into abusive relationships, a minister suggested.

Baroness Williams, the equalities minister, was questioned in the Lords yesterday on government action on those at risk of forced marriages.

Nearly 12,000 possible forced marriage cases were flagged up to the government’s Forced Marriage Unit last year – with more than a quarter involving victims below the age of 18.

Peers heard yesterday that almost 12,000 possible forced marriage cases were flagged to a national agency with more than a quarter of those cases involving victims aged under 18

Asked if the government would review current legislation allowing 16 and 17-year-olds to marry with parental consent, she said: ‘I will certainly bring that point back because (it) is absolutely right to be concerned about it.’

The junior minister added: ‘Forced marriage is a terrible form of abuse and this government is committed to tackling it.’

The issue was also debated in the Commons where a private member’s bill to raise the legal marriage age to 18 was successfully introduced under a procedure known as a ten-minute rule motion, the Times reported.

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It means the bill – which was submitted by Tory MP Pauline Latham – will progress to a second reading.

Baroness Butler-Sloss, a former president of the high court’s family division, said that parents ‘can be part of the situation’ and asked whether the government would review marriages of 16 and 17-year-olds.

The minister said that she would raise the suggestion.

Baroness Williams of Trafford was asking questions about the extent of the problems associated with forced marriages in the House of Lords yesterday 

Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale said: ‘Surely it is time to either use the laws that we have to ensure these men do not receive visas and the women are granted anonymity, or we change those laws to make sure these women are properly protected.’

Ms Latham told the Commons that parental consent was ‘not the safeguard it may once have been’.

Her bill is supported by MPs from both major parties, including the Conservative former international development secretary Priti Patel and Sarah Champion, the former shadow equalities minister.

Campaigners are working to change the law because forced marriages of teenagers in Asian communities are often inflicted by parents.

Forcing someone to marry against their will is a criminal offence that carries a maximum sentence of seven years.

A forced marriage is defined as one in which one or both spouses do not consent to the union, and violence, threats or any other form of coercion are involved.

In 2017, of nearly 1,200 cases handled by the government’s Forced Marriage Unit, 355 involved victims aged 18 or younger.

Around 168 cases examined related to victims aged 15 or younger.

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