A recent survey undertaken by Populus suggests popular support for the extension of civil partnerships. The report shows that three in five people think that civil partnerships should be available to all. The Equal Civil Partnerships Campaign has urged political parties to demonstrate their commitment to choice and diversity by pledging to extend civil partnerships to all couples.
At the moment same-sex couples can get married or enter into a civil partnership but mixed-sex couples can only get married. In February 2017, the Court of Appeal ruled that the current situation cannot continue as it means couples are being treated differently. The Government will now have to decide on the future of civil partnerships. The Civil Partnership Act 2004 (Amendment) Bill, which would extend the availability of civil partnerships to opposite-sex couples, was due to have its second reading on 12 May 2017. However, this will not now happen as parliament is due to be dissolved on 3 May 2017.
Equal civil partnerships campaign – Survey results
The survey of 2000 people found that 57% of respondents to the survey answered that all couples should be allowed the right to obtain a civil partnership, 20% said that civil partnerships should be removed altogether and 24% said that they did not know or did not mind what should happen.
The survey adds to the mounting evidence which demonstrates that giving every couple the option of getting a civil partnership would be the popular and fair thing to do. Over 76,000 people have already signed a petition calling on the Government to extend civil partnerships, MPs from all parties support the cause and many other countries have already shown that mixed-sex civil partnerships are easy to introduce and warmly welcomed.
The spread of mixed-sex civil partnerships across the world has happened in recognition of the fact that nearly all couples want some kind of financial and legal security and that marriage is just not for everyone. It is an acknowledgement of choice and diversity.
How can Nelsons help?
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