Clause 1 - Civil partnership
Civil Partnership Bill [Lords]
9:30 am
Mr Alan Duncan (Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, International Affairs; Rutland and Melton, Conservative)
My hon. Friend says that those in a cohabiting relationship are being discriminated against because they are unable to marry. They can marry if they are divorced or are free to marry. The only basis on which they might be discriminated against in law, and thereby unable to marry, is if they are not divorced or are in an adulterous relationship. Both of those situations undermine the institution of marriage that he is trying to protect. How can he say that we are not comparing like with like when, clearly, he is not doing so?