The bisexual deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, one of Britain’s leading parties, wants to stop all religious groups from marrying couples, gay or straight.

Simon Hughes is to meet the UK’s equalities minister, Maria Miller, to discuss whether only civil officials should be allowed to conduct weddings, Gay Star News can reveal.

His bid would take away one of the key privileges of religious bodies including the Church of England which is officially Britain’s state church and is formally headed by Queen Elizabeth.

In some countries, like France or Belgium, only state officials can preside over marriages – straight or gay. But in Britain ministers of many faiths are ‘authorized celebrants’ and can legally wed couples. If Hughes gets his way, priests, rabbis and imams would still wed couples but they would have to have a separate marriage in front of state registrars before their relationship is legally recognized.

Hughes is deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats who, together with their coalition government partners, the Conservatives, are pushing plans for full marriage equality in England and Wales. Separate legislation is set to go through the Scottish Parliament.

Hughes’ intervention is in part a reaction to opposition to those plans from some religious leaders. But it also appears to stem from a long-held desire to separate church and state.

On religious opposition to same-sex marriage, his spokesman told GSN: ‘Simon has argued that the best way of addressing these concerns is to separate ceremonies for civil and religious marriage as is the case in other countries around the world.

‘He hopes to meet with the equalities minister, Maria Miller, at the earliest opportunity to discuss whether this is a possible way forward.’

His comments came after one of Britain’s most prominent gay rights campaigners, Peter Tatchell, accused him of ‘wavering’ on equal marriage.

Tatchell has been promoting marriage equality and lives in Southwark, south London, the constituency Hughes represents as a Member of Parliament (MP).

Tatchell cited Hughes’ comments to Miller when she announced plans for marriage equality last month in parliament.

The MP said: ‘I am a member of a party that supports equal marriage, but the minister none the less must take into account that this was in no election manifesto, that it was not in the coalition agreement and that many members of my constituency, my church and my party feel that much more work must be done to see whether it is possible to redefine civil marriage separately from the traditional definitions of religious marriage.

‘She therefore needs to proceed very carefully and cautiously, engage with the faith leaders to seek their agreement before proceeding, and proceed with draft legislation before moving speedily to get something on the statute book.’

Actually marriage equality is a long-standing Liberal Democrat policy and was included in the Conservatives’ equalities manifesto at the last election, making his statement partially inaccurate.

And Tatchell this week attacked Hughes for that statement saying it ‘sounded somewhat equivocal’.

Tatchell added: ‘He seemed to be echoing the concerns of religious leaders who object to marriage equality; suggesting that the government should not legalize same-sex marriage without their approval. Giving them a veto would be dangerous and anti-democratic.’

However a spokesman for Hughes said he remains committed to marriage equality.

He added: ‘Simon Hughes has no wish to derail the process, but wants to win maximum consensus on the way forward. This was the desire expressed by Simon in his response in the house which has been quoted by Mr Tatchell. Simon Hughes has never advocated that any specific group should have a veto on any legislation – which is rightly and properly for parliament to decide.’

It is not clear if others in government would be sympathetic to removing legal marriage rights from religious celebrants – let alone the impact on formal position of the Church of England.

Hughes himself is part of the Church in Wales, which is an Anglican church but is not part of the state.

And his spokesman indicates that this weighs on his opinion: ‘Simon recognizes that there are many people, including those of his faith and other faiths, who have deeply held views on this issue and who have concerns about how the measure is being implemented. These views are not as suggested by Mr Tatchell driven by bigotry and homophobia.’

Repeated polls have shown that the majority of people in Britain, and even a majority of people of faith, support marriage equality.