WHAT a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive,YOU don’t know whether to laugh or cry at the mess being created as parliament accommodates gay marriage.

Next month there will be sweeping changes to 700-year-old marriage laws to accommodate gay marriages, and make a mockery of true marriage. The wise and the ignorant in our government realise that same-sex marriage will require massive re-write of legislation dating back to 1285 AD – including airbrushing out the terms “husband” and “wife” from many of our laws.

Crucial safeguards will also have to be introduced to safeguard the Monarchy. The proposals include changing the law: To prevent a man from becoming Queen in the event a King “marries” another man. To prevent a man from becoming the Princess of Wales in the event that the heir to the throne enters a same-sex marriage. To stop the “husband” of a male peer being referred to as Duchess, Lady or Countess. To replace the terms “husband” and “wife” with “partner” or “spouse” in a huge raft of English law.

Re-defining marriage (tells us something about the present day mind-set of our politicians) means rewriting our language as well as our laws. Thousands of laws would need to be changed, with far-reaching consequences, flowing from redefining marriage.

There will need to be further changes to clear up the mess created by the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act. Parliament may have changed the law, but no amount of legislation can take away the truth, that true marriage is between “one man” and “one woman”.

Norman Plaisted Vivian Road Newport