S 1(1) Civil Partnership Act 2004 stipulates that only a same-sex couple may conclude a civil partnership:

“A civil partnership is a relationship between two people of the same sex…”.

At the end of its recent consultation, in Civil Partnership Review (England and Wales) – Report on Conclusions the Government announced that it did not propose to introduce opposite-sex civil partnerships because it had concluded that there was no demand for them. Of the 10,000+ on-line answers to the consultation:

• fewer than a third of respondents supported abolition of civil partnership;
• the majority were against closing civil partnership to new couples; but
• over three-quarters were against opening up civil partnership to opposite-sex couples.

Subsequently, Tim Loughton, former Conservative children’s minister, decided to take the matter forward and introduced a Civil Partnership Act 2004 (Amendment) Bill into the Commons. Continue reading →