Clause 4 - Eligibility
Civil Partnership Bill [Lords]
3:00 pm
Mr Christopher Chope (Shadow Minister, Environment and Transport; Christchurch, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 186, in clause 4, page 3, line 3, leave out '16' and insert '18'.
The purpose of the amendment would be to prevent two people being able to register as civil partners if either of them was aged less than 18. On Second Reading, the Minister said:
''This Bill sends a clear message about the importance of stable and committed same-sex relationships.''—[Official Report, 12 October 2004; Vol. 425, c. 174.]
As the clause is drafted, it does not send such a message because it would be possible for people aged just 16 to participate in a registration ceremony as civil partners, notwithstanding the fact that in order to establish a stable and committed same-sex relationship prior to the age of 16 they would have had to be committing a criminal offence. I am sure that the Minister and the Government do not want to have the process of civil partnerships tainted by the prospect that people can enter into them under the age of 18. If it is the avowed intent of the Government that they should reflect mature, long-standing relationships, it must surely make sense that no one below the age of majority should be able to enter into one.