Kemi Badenoch just forced Labour to vote on banning welfare for multiple wives

Richard Holden just put a bill before the House of Commons.

He's the Shadow Transport Secretary. He's also the Conservative MP for Basildon and Billericay.

And his bill does one thing. It stops the welfare system recognising polygamous and incestuous marriages made overseas.

It goes before MPs tomorrow, at half past twelve. It's called the Social Security (Marriage) Bill.

Kemi Badenoch backs it. So do eleven other shadow cabinet members. Helen Whately. Claire Coutinho. Nick Timothy. Laura Trott. Tom Tugendhat.

So what does the bill actually do?

The Commons order paper spells it out. It stops the system recognising certain marriages. Polygamous ones. And marriages between close relatives.

In plain terms: an uncle marries his niece overseas, it no longer counts for welfare. An aunt marries her nephew overseas, same thing. And a man with more than one wife, married abroad, loses the extra recognition too.

Now, why now? Because of a gap the Conservatives say they only half-closed last time.

When the Conservatives were last in government, they took polygamous marriage recognition out of Universal Credit. But they left it standing in two other benefits. Pension Credit. And Housing Benefit.

Here's what that gap is worth, in cash.

A polygamous household can claim £363.25 a week in Pension Credit, for the claimant and the first spouse. Then £125.25 a week for every extra spouse. £127.35 for older households.

And there's no cap. None. No limit on how many extra spouses a household can claim for.

So the Conservatives ran the numbers. One husband, four wives. That household could get up to £39,406 more a year than a normal couple.

Holden says ordinary families struggling with the cost of living should not be funding men with multiple wives.

That's a frontbencher saying taxpayers are quietly paying for something most of them have never heard of.

Now the incest part. Holden says the Ministry of Justice already told him these close-relative marriages are unlikely to be recognised under the law as it stands. So why legislate? Because he wants it settled, not assumed. His bill would put it beyond doubt.