At any given time one in four adults is living with someone to whom they are not married. Some, gay and lesbian couples mainly, cannot legally marry. Most could marry, but choose not to for all kinds of reasons. Many of these partnerships become marriages, but often only after several years of cohabiting. That’s the reality of life today.
Many people believe that after a certain length of time they acquire some rights as a common law wife or husband, so if their partner died suddenly, for example, they would be able to inherit their property or tenancy. Not so. There are no legal rights and no protection for unmarried couples, no matter how long they have lived together and how much they have shared. If you are not married and your partner dies you are likely to be refused permission to register his or her death, as you are not the next of kin. You will be liable for inheritance tax in the way a spouse would not be. And if your partner has not made a will in your favour, you could find yourself homeless as well as bereaved.
Pension schemes are not obliged to make provision for unmarried partners. This applies mostly in the public sector, as the private sector tends to do so voluntarily. The pensions of unmarried police officers and firefighters therefore die with them. By contrast, the unmarried partners of MPs can get pension benefits, as MPs voted this summer to award themselves that right.
People marry for a whole host of reasons, emotional and religious. People choose not to marry for many reasons, too. It is simply wrong that people who are not married should be penalised financially and legally. To those who say that the institution of marriage would be threatened by greater protection for unmarried couples, I say that there is legal protection for unmarried couples in most of western Europe, and that its introduction has had no effect on the rate of marriage.
For these reasons I have introduced a bill in Parliament this session to give that protection to unmarried couples who choose to register their partnership. Partnerships can be registered already: Ken Livingstone introduced such a scheme in London and other local authorities are likely to do so, but registering a partnership currently has no legal status. My bill seeks to give a registered partnership legal status, for the purposes of pension rights, inheritance tax, insurance and immigration. The bill is not about marriage in any sense. It does not alter or undermine marriage in any way, nor does it legalise gay marriage. It provides protection for adults in the way they organise their lives in the 21st century. It would oblige all pension schemes to allow their members to name their partner, married or not, as a beneficiary of their pension. It would oblige all insurance companies to stop discriminating against unmarried couples.
The Civil Relationships (Registration) Bill had its ten minutes of parliamentary time in October. Unusually for 10-minute rule bills, it was opposed and voted on, with 179 in favour and 59 against. It is now making its way towards a second reading. However, to become law it will need government support. I’m very hopeful that that’s what it will get, and we will have taken a step towards grown-up laws for the 21st century.