Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill [Lords]

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 7:55 pm on 8 June 2020.

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Photo of Martin Vickers Martin Vickers Conservative, Cleethorpes 7:55, 8 June 2020

I thank my right and learned hon. Friend for giving way. I am listening hard to what he is saying in the hope that he might be able to persuade me to support his Bill. I know that he brings it forward with exactly the right motives. He talks about the evolution of our divorce laws and the long-term view and so on, but will he accept that over the past 30 or 40 years, each time that we have made a change, we have said that we are putting in safeguards and putting additional support into mediation or whatever it had to be, but the trend has continued in the same direction? This Bill has been labelled, for better or worse, the quickie divorce Bill and labels stick. Will he accept that that gives the wrong signal to society?