October 29, 2015

Success! Ten Minute Rule Bill goes through to second reading

A Ten Minute Rule Bill (a type of Private Member’s Bill) calling for a very small amendment to the Civil Partnership Act, simply to remove the clause that limits civil partnerships to same-sex couples, went through to its second reading completely unopposed. Tim Loughton MP, who tabled the Bill, said:

“Opposite-sex couples who do not want to go down the formal marriage route are completely unrecognised in the eyes of the state. With 3 million cohabiting opposite-sex couples in the UK, and 40% of them having children, this is a large body of people and they have few protections if things go wrong, let alone tax advantages rightly now available to same-sex couples who can choose between marriage and civil partnership. Many cohabiting couples are living under the complete misconception that they are protected by ‘common law marriage,’ which does not formally exist. At a time when we want to do everything to encourage family stability particularly to help foster strong childhoods it is absurd that the state has no way of recognising and celebrating these relationships. It is high time we recognised equal civil partnerships to give greater security to millions of our citizens.”

The Bill will have its second reading on 29 January 2016, and received cross-party support from:

Graham Brady MP, Andy Slaughter MP, Caroline Lucas MP, Greg Mulholland MP, Geoffrey Robinson MP, Sir Roger Gale MP, Stephen Twigg MP, Anne Main MP, Sir Keir Starmer MP, Pauline Latham MP, and Mark Durkan MP, amongst others.

You can watch Tim presenting his Bill on BBC Parliament, here.