The Attorney-General’s office has ruled out any legislation that would give equal rights of succession to the throne to daughters of a monarch. Nor will it repeal the law that bans the heir to the throne from marrying a Roman Catholic.

The denial yesterday, by a spokesman for Baroness Scotland of Asthal, QC, came after the Attorney-General’s fellow minister, Vera Baird, QC, who is the Solicitor-General, was quoted seemingly giving support to such measures.

A forthright advocate of equality for women, Ms Baird said that the entrenched right of males to succeed to the throne ahead of older sisters was “unfair” and “a load of rubbish”. She also wants to repeal the law banning the heir to the throne from marrying a Catholic — a law she denounced as discriminatory.

Her office said that Ms Baird was not involved with the Equalities Bill, which will bring all existing discriminatory laws on gender, age, race, disability and sexual orientation and religion under one Act.

The Solicitor-General had simply been expressing a personal view that the laws were outdated, a spokeswoman said.

She insisted that Ms Baird had not been speaking out of turn; her remarks had wrongly been put into the context of proposed government legislation.

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