The anti gay marriage group behind a leaflet that sparked a formal complaint from Truro and Falmouth MP Sarah Newton has hit back.

Mrs Newton submitted a formal complaint to the campaign group Coalition for Marriage over leaflets delivered to homes across Truro and Falmouth and handed out to shoppers in central Truro.

These urged members of the public to campaign against proposals to allow same sex couples to take part in civil marriage ceremonies. The leaflets featured a prominent photo of Mrs Newton.
which she said had ben used without permission, and gives a false impression that she is connected with the campaign.

Concerns were also raised about "offensive claims" made in the leaflet.

The group, Campaign for Marriage said that the leaflets were urge voters to lobby Mrs Newton to vote against plans to redefine marriage.

In response to Mrs Newton’s concerns, C4M National Campaign Director Colin Hart said: "As part of our campaign against the undemocratic government proposal we are urging ordinary people to contact their local MPs.

“We are doing this by delivering three million leaflets across 65 constituencies. We have used publicly available pictures and have included the contact details of the MPs to aid this process.

"We have decided to take this action because no member of the public has ever been able to cast a vote on this issue as none of the main political parties included plans to redefine marriage in their manifesto, and just days before the General Election, David Cameron ruled out introducing gay marriage.

"Given Mrs Newton's statements saying that she wanted to listen to the views of her constituents we fail to see what the problem is. We have written to Mrs Newton to reassure her about this matter, as she may have been misinformed about the nature of the leaflet.”

Read the related story below:

MP’s concern at 'offensive' anti gay marriage leaflets