Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 10:41 am on 4 September 2025.
David Mundell
Conservative, Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale
10:41,
4 September 2025
Will the Leader of the House join me in recognising Gretna Green in my Constituency as not just the wedding capital of the UK, but the wedding capital of Europe? It is particularly popular with couples from the north-west, and obviously, any MP who is still looking to be wed would be made most welcome there. However, many of the rules and regulations around civil ceremonies are arcane and bureaucratic. While there must always be proper checks, surely simplicity, spontaneity, innovation and joy must also be important. As such, will the Leader of the House bring forward a debate on modernising marriage Laws?
Laws are the rules by which a country is governed. Britain has a long history of law making and the laws of this country can be divided into three types:- 1) Statute Laws are the laws that have been made by Parliament. 2) Case Law is law that has been established from cases tried in the courts - the laws arise from test cases. The result of the test case creates a precedent on which future cases are judged. 3) Common Law is a part of English Law, which has not come from Parliament. It consists of rules of law which have developed from customs or judgements made in courts over hundreds of years. For example until 1861 Parliament had never passed a law saying that murder was an offence. From the earliest times courts had judged that murder was a crime so there was no need to make a law.
In a general election, each Constituency chooses an MP to represent them. MPs have a responsibility to represnt the views of the Constituency in the House of Commons. There are 650 Constituencies, and thus 650 MPs. A citizen of a Constituency is known as a Constituent
