Gay marriage laws have created 'real sense of anger', Philip Hammond says

 England- Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, said his opposition to same-sex weddings puts him in a minority in Parliament, but that his views are shared by "vast numbers" of the public.

His comments threaten to stir up Tory tensions over gay marriage again ahead of another parliamentary debate on the proposals next week. 

On Thursday, David Cameron appeared ready to appease some of the 134 Conservative MPs who voted against his proposals last time by promising to look at extending civil partnerships to all couples in future. 

Three Tory MPs, Tim Loughton, Charlotte Leslie and Rob Wilson, have been campaigning for this measure to encourage more couples living together to officially recognise their relationships. 

Coalition ministers had previously ruled this out as unnecessary but are now proposing a review of the rules in five years' time. As well as Mr Hammond's intervention, Liam Fox, a senior Tory and former Cabinet minister, said many voters are upset because changing the laws around marriage "affects everyone". 

The Prime Minister will be keen to avoid yet more splits in his party over same-sex marriage so soon after more than 100 Tories condemned the official Coalition position on Europe.

They voted to express regret at the Queen's Speech for not containing laws that promise a referendum on the EU because the Lib Dems are blocking it. 

Mr Cameron dampened that revolt by publishing Conservative draft laws pledging an EU poll, which will be brought forward by a backbencher and later debated in parliament. However, some of the same rebels are likely to cause trouble for him again next week over same-sex weddings. 

Some opponents of gay marriage are "resigned" to the laws passing, while others are campaigning for further changes, such as the concession on civil partnerships.

Mr Loughton, a former children's minister, wants MPs to vote for his amendment to the gay marriage laws to bring in equal civil partnerships sooner than the Government's 2019 review. 

Speaking in BBC Radio Four's Today programme, he denied this was a spoiling tactic designed to derail the entire Bill.

“The genie is out of the box. The Government has already created two tiers by bringing in gay marriage. We just need to be consistent here.

“There’s a lot of people who for whatever reason ... don't want to get involved with the whole paraphernalia of marriage but are in a committed relationship and a third of them have children as well.

Civil partnerships were introduced under Labour in 2005 as a means of allowing gay couples to formalise their relationships in law, offering them the same legal rights and recognition as married couples. Some 50,000 civil partnerships have been formed so far.

The same-sex marriage Bill, which would legalise marriage for gay and lesbian couples for the first time, returns to the Commons to begin its closing stages of debate next week. 

A campaign led by the human rights activist, Peter Tatchell, has been calling for gay couples to be allowed to marry and heterosexual couples to be able to enter civil partnerships.

Some heterosexual campaigners say they do not like marriage because of its "patriarchal history" and want to be called partners rather than "husband" and "wife", while enjoying full legal rights.