Caroline Voaden

I thank the hon. Members for Tamworth (Sarah Edwards) and for Morecambe and Lunesdale (Lizzi Collinge) and my hon. Friend the Member for Henley and Thame (Freddie van Mierlo) for securing the debate. I declare an interest: in September 2011, I had a humanist wedding. We chose a beautiful setting in the countryside and got married in a carpentry workshop, where my husband had worked for many years before all his workmates beautifully transformed it into a unique setting for a wedding. Many guests said it was one of the most special weddings they had been to, partly because it was so different from a traditional wedding. The kids loved the ice-cream van that gave out free ice creams all afternoon. The vows were written by us, the ceremony was designed by us, and we were both able to include our children in the ceremony, which was very meaningful. Having lost my first husband to cancer eight years before, the ceremony was a really special and joyous occasion marking the beginning of a new chapter for all of us after some very bleak times. But we did have to get married two days before in a registry office, because our ceremony was not legal, so I now have two wedding anniversaries, which is complicated enough—three if we count the first one as well. The occasion that I remember as my wedding was not actually my wedding, and that feels wrong and outdated in a modern society. I would like to compare the situation here with Scotland, where humanist marriages have been legally recognised and have exploded in number. There are more humanist marriages there than all the other faith and belief-based marriages combined. It is hard to unpick cause and effect, but in Scotland the legal recognition of humanist marriages coincided with the end of a long-term decline in the number of marriages there. My hon. Friend the Member for Henley and Thame talked about how he travelled to Scotland so that he could have a legally recognised humanist marriage. No doubt thousands of others have done the same thing—the modern-day equivalent of eloping to Gretna Green—but that really should not be necessary. It is time for England and Wales to catch up with Scotland and Northern Ireland, where humanist marriages are recognised. It is well past time to allow people to have a humanist ceremony recognised in law. The 1,200 couples a year who have humanist weddings here should have the same opportunity to marry in line with their beliefs as their religious counterparts. It is needed under the Human Rights Act 1998. The High Court ruled in 2020 that the lack of legal recognition is discrimination, and said the Government have to act. As we have heard, 95% of respondents to one consultation supported it. A 2025 YouGov poll found 70% in favour and only 15% opposed, and there was also a majority of every religious group in favour. This is not a controversial decision. It is also good for marriage: freedom of information data from Scotland shows that couples married in a humanist ceremony—I am very pleased to read this—are almost four times less likely to divorce compared with all other types of marriage. Lastly—the Government will like this bit—it is free. Laying an order under the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act would cost nothing. All it needs is a positive affirmation.