GETTY Bermuda has become the first country in the world to repeal same-sex marriage laws

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Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson was yesterday criticised for failing to intervene in the British overseas territory. In the Commons yesterday, junior Foreign Office Minister Harriet Baldwin said the Government was “disappointed” by the move. But she told MPs that Mr Johnson had decided it “would not be appropriate” to use his power to block the legislation. She added: “This power can only be used where there is a legal or constitutional basis for doing so, and even then only in exceptional circumstances.”

GETTY The U-turn comes less than a year after the Supreme Court ruled same-sex marriages could go ahead

This is not equality and the British Government has obviously just said, ‘This is not our fight’ Joe Gibbons - Married gay Bermudian

Ms Baldwin insisted British overseas territories were “separate, self-governing jurisdictions with their own democratically elected representatives that have the right to self-government”. Voters on the island rejected samesex marriage in a referendum in 2016. But the turnout was below the 50 per cent required for the result to be valid. Labour MP Chris Bryant told the Commons: “However the Government tries to dress this up, it is a backward step for human rights. “Gay and lesbian Bermudians have been told that they aren’t quite equal to everyone else. They have been told that they don’t deserve – this is the word being used – the full marriage rights that other Bermudians deserve.”

GETTY Boris Johnson has been criticised for failing to intervene in the British overseas territory

Around half a dozen same-sex marriages have taken place on the island since the Supreme Court ruling in May last year. None will be annulled, despite the U-turn. Married gay Bermudian Joe Gibbons, 64, said yesterday: “I feel enormously disappointed. “This is not equality and the British Government has obviously just said, ‘This is not our fight’.”

So @BorisJohnson has granted permission to Bermuda to abolish same sex marriage. This totally undermines UK effort to advance LGBT rights. — Chris Bryant (@RhonddaBryant) February 7, 2018