Same-sex marriage: Labour backs coalition government
Labour says it will not support a Conservative amendment to the government’s gay marriage plans that could have seen the legislation derailed. But the government suffers a setback in the Commons.
The coalition government’s proposed legislation returned to the House of Commons on Monday, but faces opposition from a large number of Tory MPs.
The marriage (same sex couples) bill will be debated over two days, with its third reading – the final hurdle in the Commons – on Tuesday.
However Conservative MP Tim Loughton has tabled an amendment that would see heterosexual couples offered the same access to civil partnerships as gay couples.
Labour and the Liberal Democrat support this change, but will not back the amendment in the Commons because it would have led to a government defeat and held up the legislation.
Instead, Labour is putting forward its own amendment calling for a consultation on civil partnerships for heterosexuals, which the government is relaxed about.
But the government suffered a setback when 150 MPs voted for an amendment to the bill that is designed to allow registrars opposed to the reforms to opt out of same-sex marriages.
If the government think it is right to extend marriage to everyone then it has to be right to extend civil partnerships to everyone too. Tim Loughton
Mr Loughton highlighted a ComRes survey of 159 MPs from across the parties which found 73 per cent agreed civil partnerships should be extended to heterosexuals “in the interests of equality” if gay marriage is legalised.
He has also said that some of his biggest support for the measure has come from the Liberal Democrat and Labour parties.
But Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said that while his party supported civil partnerships for heterosexuals, he did not want the bill to be “hijacked” and would not back amendments that would derail it.
The problems facing the same-sex marriage legilsation follow a torrid weekend for the Conservatives, with former foreign secretary Lord Howe claiming the prime minister is losing control of his party over Europe, and Conservative party co-chairman Lord Feldman having to deny responsibility for comments that party activists were “swivel-eyed loons”.
However, a YouGov poll will make enjoyable reading for the prime minister which says that 54 per cent of the public support legal changes tyo allow same-sex marriage, with 37 per cent of the population opposing.
At a party level, the poll says 45 per cent of Conservative voters support the changes, but 48 per cent are against them. Liberal Democrat supporters are most in favour of the changes, with 72 per cent in favour and 24 per cent opposed. Labour supporters were 57 per cent in favour and 31 per cent opposed.
Meanwhile Ukip supporters were 53 per cent opposed to the bill, with 38 per cent in favour of it.
Read more: Why some straight couples want a civil partnership over marriage
Wrecking measure?
Mr Loughton said: “Far from being a ‘wrecking measure’ some of the strongest support for my amendment to extend civil partnerships comes from the biggest supporters of same sex marriage in the Labour and Lib Dem parties.
“If the government think it is right to extend marriage to everyone then it has to be right to extend civil partnerships to everyone too. This can only be good for improving stability for many more of the near three million opposite sex couples who currently choose to cohabit but are in no formally recognised relationship.
Same sex marriage is really a tipping point, a bellwether issue if you like. Bob Woollard
“Giving them the opportunity for the rights and responsibilities that go with civil partnerships has also to be a good thing for more stability for children which is enormously important at a time of rising family breakdown.”
A government source said Mr Loughton’s amendment would cost taxpayers £4bn as a result of extra pension liabilities, and could delay the introduction of gay marriages by up to two years. The source added that it “undermines marriage by creating a two-tiered system”.
A number of other amendments have also been tabled by Conservative opponents to the bill. The amendments are intended to protect the rights of schools and registrars in relation to how they handle same-sex marriage.
One of the amendments suggests: “No school shall be under any duty as a result of the guidance issued to promote or endorse an understanding of the nature of marriage and its importance for family life and the bringing up of children that runs contrary to the designated religious character of the school.”
Without Liberal Democrat or Labour support, however, it is likely that these amendments will be defeated.
‘Tipping point’
Mr Cameron is facing fierce opposition from within his party, and threats that pushing the legislation through will lead to an exodus of voters to Ukip.
A group of more than 30 current and former local party chairmen warned that the plans would drive Tory voters to Nigel Farage’s party, and make a Conservative election victory in 2015 impossible.
Bob Woollard, chairman of the Conservative Grassroots group which organised the protest letter to the prime minister said: “Same sex marriage is really a tipping point, a bellwether issue if you like – people have just said ‘I’ve had enough, I’m off, I will never vote Conservative again’.
“Scores and scores and scores of people that we have all spoken to, probably hundreds of thousands of people have said: ‘I’ve had enough, that’s it now, we can’t cope with this so-called modernisation agenda. We are not voting Conservative again until this bill is scrapped, defeated in the House of Lords, kicked into the long grass or until there’s a change of leadership’.”