Church civil partnerships – not out of the woods
The Equality Minister will decide with Cabinet colleagues whether to allow the controversial amendment to her flagship anti-discrimination bill to stand when it reaches the Commons next week.
If the move to allow civil partnerships to take place on religious premises becomes law, having been agreed to by peers, it will raise “a number of problems” for faith groups, priests, registrars and civil marriages for men and women.
A Whitehall source said: “It hasn’t been decided yet – it’s possible that the Government will try to remove the amendment in the Commons.”
However, with the general election just weeks away, ministers fear that the entire Equality Bill could fall if peers and MPs argue over the contentious clause.
It is possible that Miss Harman and the Domestic Affairs (Communities & Equalities) Cabinet committee will allow the amendment to be voted through in the Commons and then begin consulting on a series of subsequent changes to regulations on civil partnerships and civil marriages.
I always wonder at these ‘numerous problems’ that are rarely enumerated and on past past experience don’t materialise. Just think of all of the ‘problems’ that the like of the EA were shouting about before CP were allowed; what evidence do they now present that anything happened other than public sector workers were expected to do their job whether their ‘conscience’ allowed them or not? As a scularist I’m all for the removal of this piece of discriminatiopn against one expression of religion by another competing expression of religion.