Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 23 June 2020
We might be in the midst of a public health crisis, but it is good that we are still able to deal with other matters. To some, the bill might not, on the face of it, seem to be the most important matter in the world, but it will be very important indeed to those it potentially affects. I am therefore glad that we have found parliamentary time for it. I record my thanks to the bill team and parliamentary staff who have worked on the bill, the committee clerks and committee members. They have produced a bill that can be commended to the chamber and which will make a real difference to people.
I do not think that the bill is contentious, but some issues had to be dealt with along the way. The bill, as we have heard, allows mixed-sex couples access to civil partnerships, ensuring compatibility with the European convention on human rights. The bill, which we support, brings Scots law into line with that in the rest of the United Kingdom. The bill is about equality and fairness, which are principles that we should all subscribe to. It is also about choice—people having the ability to choose the status of a relationship that they are in and having the same choice as everyone else.
By way of background, the Civil Partnership Act 2004 allowed same-sex couples to enter into a civil partnership. That was the first legal means for a same-sex couple to be recognised with similar legal rights to married different-sex couples. Ten years later, the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act 2014 made it legal for same-sex couples to be married in Scotland and also allowed a same-sex couple in a civil partnership to convert their legal status to married. However, different-sex couples could not form a civil partnership.
Civil partnerships for different sex-couples have recently been introduced in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. That followed a ruling by the Supreme Court, already mentioned, that the situation was discriminatory and incompatible with the ECHR. That ruling did not apply to Scotland, but it was still entirely right that we addressed the matter here. The committee’s stage 1 report said:
“Scotland ... is the only country in the world where same sex couples can choose between marriage or civil partnership, while different sex couples only have the option of marriage.”
We supported the general principles of the bill unanimously at stage 1. The committee then addressed some issues that had been picked up at stage 2. There were important amendments, and I will touch on some of them. First, Alex Cole-Hamilton is to be thanked for addressing an issue that was raised at stage 1: namely, that for an interim period, mixed-sex civil partnerships registered outside Scotland would have been temporarily treated in Scots law as if they were marriages. That caused some concern and risked confusion for anyone in that position who moved to Scotland regarding what their status would be. Mr Cole-Hamilton introduced amendment 1, which allows couples who have registered civil partnerships outwith Scotland to present as being in a civil partnership during the interim period, when they will have the legal status of married before Scots law is altered. They will receive the same legal protections as married couples, while not having to identify as married.
That amendment and, consequentially, amendment 2 were supported unanimously. That would have made Martin Loat of the Equal Civil Partnerships campaign a bit happier than he was at first. He said that he had a “huge problem in principle” that his own civil partnership would be treated as a marriage in the interim period and he urged the committee either to reconsider the provision involved or to have the bill enacted quickly so that the interim period was minimal or a non-existent theoretical issue.
Shirley-Anne Somerville introduced amendment 10, which allows marriages to be changed to civil partnerships and which was supported across all parties. Her amendment 11 extended recognition of marriages that have been converted to civil partnerships in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, which was unanimously supported. She also introduced several minor technical amendments that were passed with cross-party support too. Amendments 4 to 6 extended provisions for civil partnerships to be maintained regardless of one member of the couple changing genders, as both same-sex and mixed-sex couples can now be in civil partnerships. Those amendments were supported by everyone.
One issue that was raised earlier and has not been tackled is worth mentioning again. The bill does not allow for adultery to be used as grounds for ending a civil partnership, unlike in marriage. The Faculty of Advocates and the Law Society of Scotland suggested that that matter would be worthy of further consideration, but I saw no amendment on that—most probably because the committee felt, understandably, that it was a matter of divorce law.
The bill works, is fair and is about equality. Conservative members will support it at decision time.