Support for the Conservative Party has almost tripled amongst the gay, lesbian and bisexual voters, according to a new survey by Pink News.
Support for the Tories has increased from 11 to 30 per cent since the last general election, the site reports, while Prime Minister David Cameron is now preferred by 47 per cent of gay voters, thanks to his plans to legalise gay marriage. Only 42 per cent of gay and lesbian respondents said they preferred Labour leader Ed Miliband.
A decisive 64 per cent of the survey participants said the Coalition government’s plans to legalise same sex marriage had improved their view of the Conservative Party – 48 per cent said a little and 16 per cent said a lot.
Nevertheless, the majority of the survey participants still support Labour: 38 per cent, compared to 30 per cent for the Conservatives. Thirteen per cent said the supported the Liberal Democrats.
Pink News publisher Benjamin Cohen said: “By proposing same-sex marriage, David Cameron has unquestionably improved the standing of the Conservative Party among the gay community. However, what’s most interesting is that he is considerably more popular than his party within our community. This perhaps reflects the fact that many of the most vocal opponents of introducing this final act of equality for gay people have been Conservative MPs, some of whom represent and have angered the very people who voted in the poll.”
Meanwhile, High Court judge Mr Justice Coleridge has criticised the government’s gay marriage plans, saying they should be concentrating instead on marriage breakdown.
Speaking to the Times earlier this week, the judge said:
“So much energy and time has been put into this debate for 0.1 per cent of the population, when we have a crisis of family breakdown. While it is gratifying that marriage in any context is centre stage… but it [gay marriage] is a minority issue. We need… a more focused position by the government on the importance of marriage.”
Earlier this year Mr Justice Coleridge set up the Marriage Foundation to campaign for long term relationships within marriage.
