Ruth Davidson to urge Northern Ireland to back gay marriage

'It is about people in Northern Ireland being afforded the same rights as everybody else'

Ms Davidson with her partner Jen Wilson during the Scottish Parliament elections earlier this year (Getty)

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson will today attempt to encourage Northern Ireland to legislate for same-sex marriage as part of Belfast’s Pride celebrations.

Giving the “positive” message about gay marriage at a major speech in Belfast, Ms Davidson, who recently became engaged to her partner Jen Wilson, will insist people living in Northern Ireland should be “afforded the same rights as everybody else”.

The country remains the only part of the UK where same-sex marriage illegal.

Ms Davidson, also an MSP, said she was “honoured” to have been invited to discuss the issue at a lecture as part of Belfast’s Pride celebrations. “As a practising Christian, a protestant and a unionist who is engaged to a Catholic Irishwoman, for me, equal marriage isn't about one religion, country or community,” she will say.

“It is about people in Northern Ireland being afforded the same rights as everybody else.

“Scotland is a better place today because of equal marriage and I want to take that positive message from our experiences here to Belfast and beyond.”

Last year Ms Davidson, who impressed many with her media performances throughout the European Union referendum campaign and her success in elections in Scotland, was involved in the successful campaign for equal marriage in the Republic of Ireland.

However, Northern Ireland's devolved Stormont Assembly has repeatedly refused to legislate on the contentious issue. Although a slim majority of MLAs voted in favour of lifting the ban when it was debated for a fifth time last November, the proposal fell when the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) deployed a controversial voting mechanism to effectively veto it.