MARRIAGE certificates are "profound unequal" because they fail to recognise the mothers of the bride and groom, MP Caroline Lucas has told the Prime Minister.

The Brighton Pavilion Lucas has urged David Cameron to make good on a promise to change certificates so they record the details of both the mother and father.

In an Early Day Motion tabled in Parliament last week, Ms Lucas chastised the Prime Minister for not acting on a promise to make the change "over a year ago".

The Green MP wants to undo the Victorian idea of only listing the man's parents in the official documentation - something that has not been examined since the last regulations in 1986.

She said: “It’s hard to believe that this inequality on marriage certificates still exists. This throwback to the past must be rectified – and quickly.

“The Prime Minister promised to make this change, yet no action has been taken.

"He should urgently address this profound inequality and change marriage certificates to record the details of both the mother and father of the bride and groom.”

Speaking last summer, Mr Cameron said: “The content of marriage registers in England and Wales has not changed since the beginning of Queen Victoria's reign.

“This clearly doesn't reflect modern Britain and it's high time the system was updated.”

He said he had asked the Home Office to investigate how marriage certification can be reformed to include the details of both parents.

Ms Lucas is urging fellow MPs to sign the motion to put pressure on the Government into taking action to address the "longstanding inequality".

She was spurred on after seeing an online petition by Ailsa Burkimsher Sadler, which received 70,000 signatures calling for the change.

One supporter wrote: “My mother raised me on her own, making thousands of sacrifices along the way. My dad never did anything useful or kind for us.

"I don't understand why I had to put his name on my marriage certificate. I can't be alone in this.”

The motion notes that "our law should not perpetuate the offensive and outdated message that marriage is a business transaction between fathers".