February 20, 2009 -- Politicians have avoided dealing with the issue of polygamy in the UK because of "cultural sensitivity", a leading Muslim peer said today.

Lady Warsi, the shadow minister for community cohesion, said there had been a "failure" to take polygamy seriously.

She urged the government to consider the mandatory registration of all religious marriages to stop men in Britain from marrying more than one woman.

"There has been a failure on the part of policymakers to respond to this situation," Warsi told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"Some of it has been done in the name of cultural sensitivity, and we've just avoided either discussing or dealing with this matter head on.

"There has to be a culture change and that has to brought about by policymakers taking a very clear stance on this issue, saying that, in this country, one married man is allowed to marry one woman.

"And that must be the way for everyone who lives in this country."

Warsi said politicians should consider whether people married in religious ceremonies in their own homes with an "imam and a couple of witnesses there" should be made to register those marriages within a four-week period.

"If that was the case, then those marriages would have to be declared within law," she said.

"And if those marriages were declared within law, then clearly, if the person has a first legal wife, there could be potential cases of bigamy being brought."