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Brothers and sisters should be able to enter civil partnerships, a top Tory suggested today.

Lord Lexden wants siblings to be able to enjoy the same benefits as husbands and wives, and gay people who tied the knot when the law was changed in 2004.

The legislation introduced 'gay weddings' before same-sex marriage was legalised by the Conservative and Lib Dem coalition in 2013.

The peer, who is vice chairman of the Conservative Policy Forum and is also the party’s official historian, said siblings should be able to enjoy the same tax breaks as gay and married couples.

Speaking in the Lords, he added: “In Britain today, all other stable, loving couples are now able to formalise their relationships in legal terms - so vitally important where inheritance and its tax implications are concerned.

(Image: Getty)

“If sibling couples are to be denied civil partnerships, how does the Government propose to address the injustice that will arise on the death of one of them, with the survivor having to sell the family home to pay inheritance tax from which civil partners are exempt?”

Lord Lexden was known as Alistair Cooke before entering the Upper House. He was Deputy Director of the Conservative Research Department for 12 years under Margaret Thatcher and John Major.

He has also been General Secretary of the Independent Schools Council.

Equalities Minister Baroness Williams of Trafford ruled out his proposal, insisting the Government had no plans to change the law.

“Civil partnerships are the equivalent of a marriage, a loving union,” she said.

“They were created to enable same sex couples to obtain legal recognition of their relationship at a time when marriage was not possible to them.”

She claimed married and same sex couples enjoyed a “unique legal and financial commitment”, but added that it was “a far deeper commitment than just that of finance”.

Baroness Williams went on: "Introducing a new tax relief would either impact on the provision of public services or place the burden of tax on the less well off."

Lib Dem peer Baroness Barker said the idea would be 'a wholly inappropriate' use of the law.

And former Tory chairman Lord Tebbit suggested ministers had set off on a 'slippery slope' when they change the law on gay marriage, which he opposed.