Contribution
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dame Siobhain. I congratulate my hon. Friends the Members for Tamworth (Sarah Edwards) and for Morecambe and Lunesdale (Lizzi Collinge), as well as the hon. Member for Henley and Thame (Freddie van Mierlo), on securing the debate. Before I begin in earnest, I am proud to declare my interest as a member of Humanists UK and of the all-party parliamentary humanist group.
I would like to make a proposal to the Minister—one that does not need a ring, flowers or a dramatic moment on bended knee. My simple proposal is that we finally say yes to legalising humanist marriage in England and Wales. I understand the Government’s arguments, and I will focus my remarks on them, but before I get into the detail, I want to say that the fact that this was resolved in Scotland two decades ago, and could be, but has not been, resolved in England and Wales by way of a simple order, is indefensible. It demands urgent action.
I have heard the Government’s argument that they want to consider marriage law in the round, and they should certainly do that, but, thanks to the previous Government, humanist couples have already been waiting for 12 years and that has not happened. Why should they have to continue to wait, and why can they not have legal recognition of their marriages in the meantime?
While humanist couples have been waiting, many other piecemeal reforms have taken place. In 2021, the law was changed to allow civil marriages outdoors. The system of registering marriages became electronic. Mothers’ names have been added to marriage certificates. Opposite-sex civil partnerships have been introduced, along with new possibilities for conversions between marriage and civil partnership. No-fault divorce was introduced in 2022. The marriage age was raised to 18 in 2023. Weddings for whole-life prisoners were banned by this Government just last year.
While all that was taking place, more and more religious groups have been happily registering themselves to do marriages for the first time. Scientologists got the power to conduct marriage in 2014 following a Supreme Court case. The Order of St Leonard, a religious group founded in just 2009, has registered. The Goddess People of Avalon and the He Lives Bible Church, formed in 2000 and 1998, respectively, both registered. In other words, whole religions have come into existence and got the power to conduct marriage in almost the same time that humanist marriages have been under review.
Similarly, more religious groups have decided to perform same-sex marriages, most notably the Methodists in 2021. All the while, humanist celebrants have wanted to be able to perform legal same-sex marriages, but have been denied the right to do so. The previous Government argued that other religious and non-religious belief groups are arguing for legal marriage recognition, so it would be unfair to recognise humanists. However, that argument seems to be that two wrongs make a right. It is not clear who those groups even are. Muslims, for example, can already marry in mosques, and hundreds do so every year. Independent celebrants are an entirely different proposition, as we have heard, being profit-making alternatives to state registrars. It is also not clear how other religious or non-religious belief groups would be disadvantaged by humanists gaining recognition.
In the interest of time, I will wrap up. Scotland has already said, “I do.” Thousands of couples have legally married in beautiful, meaningful humanist ceremonies. England and Wales are still standing at the altar, checking their watch and waiting for the doors to open. I am not asking for sweeping reform. I am not asking the Minister to rethink everything. I am just asking for a simple answer to a simple question: will the Minister, at long last, do me the honour of making that order and recognising humanist marriages? There is no lawful impediment, just the chance to say, finally and unequivocally, “I do.”