Still, not the government’s job to decide who you can and cannot marry especially in a modern society with plenty of options to marry.

The state could educate and advice its citizens about the downsides of marrying your cousin, so that the overall risks of birth mutations to society would be negligible at best.

Historically it was to prevent or cut down on the probable birth mutations that would occur from people marrying and, presumably, having kids with a genetic gene pool that was far too limited, ergo the mutations. Ugly stuff in some cases.

winteryeti

First-cousin marriages are already legal in the UK; the government under PM Starmer blocked a private member's bill to ban them rather than legalizing the practice.

Generally I don’t understand why people seem outraged about whether people (consenting adults) marry their cousins or not.

It doesn’t mean that YOU have to marry your cousins too.

relationships

Politics_And_Law

Incest Legalized in UK: Keir Starmer legalized marriages between first cousins

hasherstacker

> Community note

> First-cousin marriages are already legal in the UK; the government under PM Starmer blocked a private member's bill to ban them rather than legalizing the practice.

Generally I don’t understand why people seem outraged about whether people (consenting adults) marry their cousins or not.

It doesn’t mean that YOU have to marry your cousins too.