Britain's only openly lesbian MP has condemned the Conservative Party for trying to allow small hotels and b&bs (bed and breakfasts) to ban gay couples.

The Equality Bill, which is currently having its second reading in the House of Commons, will ban the discrimination of people in the provision of goods and services due to their religion or their sexuality.

During the debate, Conservative Equality spokeswoman, Eleanor Laing argued that the law shouldn't apply to small businesses: "a small hotel with two or three rooms should not be treated in the same way in legislation as a large central London hotel with 100 rooms."

Angela Eagle, Labour MP for Wallasey labelled Ms Laing's comments as "sad" and said that not being denied services due to a person's sexuality was "a simple matter of human rights."

Courtesy of the Pink news