Reforming weddings law in England and Wales

On Thursday, the Government published Tying the knot: reforming weddings law in England and Wales: consultation document. Its proposals follow the Law Commission’s 2022 report, Celebrating Marriage: A New Weddings Law and the Government’s announcement of its intention to reform the law. The document states that the Government’s approach to reform is guided by four principles, which underpin all the proposals in the consultation:

• Providing a simple, fair and inclusive framework and establishing a clear, coherent and consistent legal structure for weddings, to ensure fairness across different groups through a common set of rules and enabling non-religious belief organisations, including Humanists, to conduct legally binding ceremonies.
• Expanding choice as to how and where couples marry, to allow greater flexibility over the location and form of weddings, so that ceremonies can better reflect couples’ beliefs and circumstances.
• Upholding the dignity and significance of marriage, to ensure that all weddings meet clear and consistent standards of dignity through a comprehensive framework governing ceremonies and locations, supported by oversight of officiants and clear criteria for organisations to preserve the integrity of marriage.
• Protecting against forced, predatory and sham marriages by strengthening safeguards through a more effective system of checks and greater transparency to ensure that marriages are entered into freely, with informed consent and are not used to gain unfair advantage.

The closing date for responses is 24 September, either online here or to: Family Justice Policy Team, Ministry of Justice, 102 Petty France, London SW1H 9AJ:  weddingslawconsultation@justice.gov.uk.

Culture, Media and Sport Committee: Protecting built heritage

The House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s report, Protecting Built Heritage, was published on 13 July. It highlights the growing challenges facing England’s historic buildings, particularly listed places of worship. The Committee notes that there are around 14,800 listed places of worship in England, the majority belonging to the Church of England, and warns that they face mounting financial, demographic and organisational pressures.

The report expresses concern that replacing the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme with the Places of Worship Renewal Fund could disadvantage historically significant buildings outside areas of socio-economic deprivation. It recommends that funding should be maintained at least at previous real-terms levels and that eligibility should balance heritage value with measures of deprivation.

The Committee also suggests that the current VAT regime discourages the repair and reuse of historic buildings by making restoration more expensive than new construction. It recommends targeted VAT relief for listed buildings and wider reform to remove incentives favouring demolition over conservation.

Recognising the sector’s heavy reliance on volunteers, the Committee ]calls for funded professional support to reduce volunteer burnout. It also urges improvements to the planning system, including greater consistency in decision-making and better integration of heritage conservation with sustainability objectives such as retrofit and net-zero.

Meanwhile in Scotland…

On Tuesday, The Herald reported that Culture Secretary Màiri McAllan, on behalf of the Scottish Government, said that, despite receiving extra money under the Barnett Formula linked to the Places of Worship Renewal Fund for England, it has “limited options” as to what it can do to help church buildings.

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill has been published: here. It has been set down for second reading on 11 September.

Assisted dying in France

RFI (Radio France Internationale) reports that France’s National Assembly has given its definitive backing to legislation granting terminally ill adults the right to end their lives with medical assistance, bringing to a close a protracted and often fraught political battle. On Wednesday, Deputies voted 291 to 241 in favour: the fourth time the lower house has approved the text. Last year, the bill also cleared the Assembly but was rejected by the Senate. In view of this resistance, the Government permitted the Assembly to have the final say without the Senate’s consent – a mechanism permitted under the Constitution.

The report states that “euthanasia involves a doctor or other healthcare professional administering a lethal injection at the patient’s request, while medically assisted suicide typically involves the patient voluntarily taking lethal medication that a doctor has prescribed”.

The Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu, intends to refer the text to the Constitutional Council for review.

Quick links

• Ruth Deech, The Guardian: David Lammy’s proposed cohabitation law would be bad for couples – and worse for some women: a negative view of the proposal to confer rights on cohabiting partners.

And finally…

Premier Christian News reports that the Church of Norway had temporarily changed its logo to the Church of England’s cross to commemorate England’s World Cup victory.

It explained: “…after the airline Norwegian first challenged British Airways to a bet, stating on Instagram: “If Norway wins, you have to switch to our logo on Instagram on Sunday (one day). And vice versa. Deal?”, Den Norske Kirke then posted a challenge of its own to the CofE, asking: “Ready to risk your logo?” The Church of England responded: “We know our logo will look great on you.”

Akvavit all round!