Baroness Neuberger, president of Liberal Judaism, this week called for a change in the law to allow civil partnership ceremonies for same-sex couples to be held in synagogue.

The ceremonies, introduced by the government four years ago, cannot take place in a house of worship or use religious language as they are considered the equivalent to civil marriage.

In a Lords debate on the Equality Bill on Monday, Baroness Neuberger said that she had been told by couples that they and their parents would have been “overjoyed” if they had been able to have the ceremony in a synagogue.