Blair will allow gay couples to adopt

Tony Blair today opened the way for unmarried couples, including gay and lesbian partners, to adopt children, risking a serious political row over family values.

The move marks a big reverse for the Prime Minister, who until now has avoided a damaging showdown over adoption by refusing to back a move to abolish the legal requirement that only married couples can adopt.

But this afternoon, Health Secretary Alan Milburn is expected to announce that the Government is backing a proposal to allow adoption panels to choose both married and unmarried partners as suitable parents.

MPs are likely to be given a free vote on an amendment to the Adoption and Children Bill, currently going through Parliament, which would pave the way for the radical legal change. The move could widen significantly the pool of potential applicants, with more than 3,000 extra parents a year becoming eligible to look after children who would otherwise remain in care.

But Mr Blair will come under attack from family values campaigners who will say that he is opening up the way for gay and lesbian couples to adopt. Under the European Convention on Human Rights, it is impossible to exclude gay couples from the definition of an unmarried couple.

The Tories have already signalled their opposition to changing the law, saying that on "non-moralistic grounds" marriage provides the best basis for a happy family life. The Catholic Church is also likely to fight the move.

The Evening Standard revealed in March how the Prime Minister had intended to put the issue on the backburner until after the next general election by passing it to his political secretary Sally Morgan, one of his most trusted aides.

Baroness Morgan, who heads Downing Street's Equality Unit, was asked to look at the subject as part of her review into the registration of same-sex partnerships. But the move put the Government under pressure from Labour backbenchers, and also stoked opposition from several MPs from other parties, who accused ministers of discriminating against cohabiting couples.

Scores of MPs have signed an amendment to the Bill, calling for the marriage requirement to be abolished. MPs are now expected to be given a free vote on the issue in two weeks' time, and it is likely that it will be passed.

Campaigners could face a battle in the Lords, however, where religious leaders and Conservative peers could give the proposals a rocky ride. The British Association for Adoption and Fostering has been campaigning for a change in the law for six months.

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