Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 19 May 2020
I am grateful to Andy Wightman for allowing me the opportunity to correct that point. It is, indeed, a UK-wide statistic. I imagine the figure would be in the region of 300,000 in Scotland.
Children in Scotland is fully supportive of the legislation, arguing that
“opening out civil partnerships will have positive implications to the lives of children and young people”.
That is because the bill will not only increase parity for those seeking to engage in a civil partnership, but provide that a man in a civil partnership with the mother of their child will obtain parental rights and responsibilities. That is a vital improvement in the law. That recognition of both parents helps to ensure that children’s rights have great protections.
In addition, opening out civil partnerships to everyone would help support LGBT+ communities. Stonewall has highlighted how the extension will ensure that civil partnerships remain an option for LGBT people in same-sex relationships, while widening the options available to people in mixed-sex relationships, including those who are LGBT, such as bi and trans people. Once again, at the core of the bill we see the pillars of equality and fairness.
Last year, we saw civil partnerships become available in England and Wales, so this slight change in legislation—as the minister said, it is such a small change—will make an important shift in our progress as a nation towards equality.
That change followed the UK Supreme Court ruling in favour of Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Keidan, which stated that the UK’s previous law, the Civil Partnership Act 2004, was incompatible with articles 8 and 14 of the European convention on human rights on equality grounds. The judge ruled that current UK laws were incompatible with human rights laws on discrimination and the right to a private and family life.
Equality before the law, irrespective of sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation, is a vital baseline against which further progress towards all human equality and rights can be made. The Equality Network claims that, based on the experience of other countries, roughly one in 10 mixed-sex couples would prefer a civil partnership to a marriage, with demand coming from couples who would otherwise choose not to get married and become unmarried cohabitants.
The impact of the lack of legal rights on the breakdown of a cohabiting relationship is gendered. In its 2015 response to the Scottish Government consultation on civil partnerships, Engender said:
“women have less access to resources, assets and income, due to systemic issues that include unpaid caring roles, the gender pay gap, violence against women and unequal representation.”
My Liberal Democrat colleagues south of the border sought to introduce civil partnerships for all couples in 2002 through Lord Lester’s private member’s bill, and in 2013 when they tried to make civil partnerships open to mixed-sex couples. They did not succeed until very recently in England, and we must now follow suit.
I am pleased that this anomaly, which has existed in this country for 15 years, is now on track to be fixed through making marriage and civil partnerships available to couples regardless of sex. The committee has looked at the bill from all angles and the bill is elegant in its simplicity. As such, it is likely to require few, if any, amendments at stage 2, other than those to which the minister has already given voice.
However, I wish to put on record my regrets regarding evidence that we heard during the stage 1 consultation—with which I had great sympathy—on the unfortunate realities of the transition arrangements around implementation. The committee heard compelling evidence from campaigners who voiced concern at the fact that, until the date of implementation, mixed-sex couples who had a civil partnership that was already recognised in England would be regarded as being married for that period in Scotland.
There are real and legitimate reasons why people would reject the institution of marriage and would understandably be angry that, despite the lengths that they had gone to to have a mixed-sex civil partnership realised in England, they should be considered as husband and wife in Scotland, even for just a few months. The committee took extensive legal advice on the matter and it was determined to be unavoidable, so I hope that we can expedite the implementation of the bill.
I see that my time is up, so I thank the clerks and witnesses and I assure the Government of our support at stage 1.
16:27