Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill [Lords]

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 8:33 pm on 8 June 2020.

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Photo of John Hayes John Hayes Conservative, South Holland and The Deepings 8:33, 8 June 2020

I am so pleased to see the right hon. Gentleman back on the Opposition Front Bench. He is a dear old friend, but he is quite wrong about this. These provisions declare at the outset that the marriage is irreconcilable. If that happened at the end of the process rather than the beginning, he would be right; an opportunity for reconciliation, and perhaps rethinking, as a result of counselling might be possible. That is not the case with the proposals we have before us tonight.