Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill

No, I will not, because I think all noble Lords in this Chamber regard marriage as the crowning o...

Will the noble Lord at some stage address the amendment of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Macka...

I may not be able to do that because I still have to deal with these amendments, so I will reflec...

It is in the same group of amendments.

I will do my best. As the noble Lord, Lord Elystan-Morgan, has said, concepts of marriage have no...

Perhaps my noble friend might refer back to what the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Slos...

I have already explained my position, which is the same as the judgment I just referred to: that ...

My Lords, I strongly support what the noble and learned Lord, Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood, ...

My Lords, it is my understanding that what same-sex couples are asking for is not permission from...

My Lords, I feel deeply unhappy to be divided on this matter from so many of my traditional frien...

My Lords, Amendment 34 is down in my name and that of my noble friend Lord Edmiston. I should lik...

My Lords—

I commend the noble Baroness for her enthusiasm. I will give way in just a moment. I would like t...

My Lords, my noble friend will have heard the exception taken by a number of our noble friends an...

I think not, because “ancient” and “modern” carry with them designations which are likely to comp...

Is the noble Lord aware that the Government have tabled an amendment to deal with his precise poi...

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for his intervention. He knows, perhaps better than mos...

My Lords, the noble Baroness, Lady Turner, wished to speak but could not get up fast enough.

I thank the noble Lord. I wanted to make a very brief intervention to bring your Lordships back t...

My Lords, I would like to explain why I am against this group of amendments and why I support thi...

My Lords, I strongly support the speech of the noble Baroness, Lady Shackleton, and will be very ...

My Lords, two themes have run through the debate. On one there is almost universal agreement that...

My Lords, normally I agree with everything my noble friend Lord Higgins says. I am in profound di...

My Lords, the legislation itself refers to two different types of marriage. It is there in how it...

My Lords, without wishing to prolong this debate, perhaps I may try to say a brief word on behalf...

Oh!

I thought that might draw a guffaw from the Labour side of the House; they know the dangers of it...

My Lords, I have tabled Amendment 2 in this group. I was led to put this amendment down in an att...

My Lords, I apologise for not being here in your Lordships’ House at Second Reading. I thank nobl...

If that was the definition, would the Church of England be prepared to marry couples in church? T...

I wish I was speaking on behalf of the Church of England. I am not. I am part of it. The noble Ba...

My Lords, I will be extremely brief. I am not sure whether I prefer the amendment set down by the...

My Lords, I, too, am a trustee of the Marriage Foundation, which I should say is totally neutral ...

I should like to ask the noble and learned Baroness a question. I have wanted to ask this of othe...

You have to recognise the truth of it. The most reverend Primate pointed out the importance of tr...

I beg the noble and learned Baroness’s pardon, but in other parts of our legislation—in our equal...

The declaration of sexuality would be relevant only at the moment of marriage. It would not be re...

I apologise to the noble and learned Baroness, but I never answered her question when I was on my...

I am grateful to the noble Lord for being prepared to answer the question that I asked him some c...

I should like to answer the question that was not put while I was speaking. The provisions in the...

My Lords, it seems to me that we are trying to find a form of words that does not increase the le...

My Lords, Amendment 9 in this group is in my name and I should like to speak to it now. I have a ...

My Lords, I rise to speak against Amendment 1. I will also touch on Amendments 2, 9, 33, 34, 46 a...

Let me make it absolutely clear that it had nothing to do with that. It is important—to me anyway...

The noble and learned Lord should not have said it then. The amendment of the noble Lord, Lord De...

Perhaps I may interrupt. I withdrew my name from that amendment, even though I fully support my n...

I thank the noble and right reverend Lord for that intervention. I had heard that he had withdraw...

I apologise for interrupting and I am grateful to the noble Lord for giving way. I appeal to him ...

I do not accept the noble Lord’s premise. I understand that there is concern outside this Chamber...

First, I hope that the noble Lord will clear up the point about whether I am being mischievous. I...

My Lords, I think I am right—I hope that the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Carey, will corr...

Perhaps I may make a point to the noble Lord. The homosexual community has long been a minority i...

I will repeat what I said to the noble Lord, Lord Cormack. These two concepts are diametrically o...

Is that quite right? The amendment of the noble Lord, Lord Dear, states:

“Nothing in this A...

Amendment 9, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Dear, would create a separate register—so there is a ...

My Lords, I had not intended to intervene in this debate, but I will make two brief points. First...

My Lords, we have had a long and interesting debate about the definition of marriage and about th...

I think that the noble Baroness suggested that my amendment was designed to undermine the Bill, a...

I think that noble Lords’ concerns about free speech will be addressed at a later stage in Commit...

My Lords, I am very grateful to all noble Lords. I think more than 30 noble Lords have contribute...

A curious aspect of this debate is that it is assumed that if there is a distinction between two ...

If anybody wished to table an amendment and your Lordships wanted to debate it, I would be happy ...

Before my noble friend moves on from that point, am I not right that different terms are applied ...

I think my noble and learned friend referred to this point in an earlier intervention. I will pro...

Does the noble Baroness agree that what I propose is, in very simple terms, a purely permissive p...

Although I understand perfectly what the noble Lord is saying, the amendment would still create t...

I am grateful to the Minister for giving way. Will she ask her advisers why the separate but equa...

I shall certainly seek advice on that, but I have a feeling that my noble friend would be able to...

My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend. I understand that she just wants marriage without any...

Absolutely not. I was going to come on to respond briefly to the points that my noble friend rais...

My Lords, I am very interested in what my noble friend said about people being able to say what t...

There are safeguards in the Bill as the Equality Act makes it clear that it is possible for peopl...

My Lords, first of all, I thank noble Lords for wishing me well in my recovery and on being back ...

The most reverend Primate referred to divorce and annulment. We are not changing the definition o...

What about adultery?

Again, amendments on adultery are coming up. I do not know whether we will get to them today. I a...

Will my noble friend the Minister clarify the position on annulment? This matter appeared in a le...

If my noble friend will forgive me, although I responded to the most reverend Primate on this top...

On that point, in the case of a heterosexual marriage, annulment depends on consummation, not pro...

The noble Lord has done me a great service because he reminds me that I was wrong in the connecti...

My Lords, I am honoured and pleased that my amendment should have paved the way for such a profou...

Moved by

Lord Cormack

4: Clause 1, page 2, line 3, at end insert—

“(c) a priest...

My Lords, this is a very different, and rather more limited, amendment, but I think it has some i...

Perhaps I may also remind your Lordships that it is not the line that my church is taking at the ...

I am grateful for that clarification, although I know quite a number of free churches ministers o...

My Lords, the amendment is an unnecessary and potentially confusing addition, because it would, a...

My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lord Cormack for moving the amendment. As he indicated, it is a...

My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend and the noble Baroness, Lady Royall. I have a number o...

Moved by

Lord Mackay of Clashfern

5: Clause 1, page 2, line 3, at end insert—

“...

My Lords, we heard earlier a number of instances, which I shall not repeat, in which expressing v...

My Lords, I wish to speak to Amendments 5, 7, 8 and 19, government Amendment 53 and Amendment 54....

My Lords, first, I apologise to the noble Lord, Lord Alli, and others on the other side of the Ho...

My Lords, I wish to speak briefly to Amendment 54, which is in my name, and, obviously, to govern...

I shall speak to Amendments 7 and 8, which stand in my name in this grouping. I ask noble Lords t...

I wonder if the noble Lord, Lord Dear, would care to acknowledge that Adrian Smith actually won h...

Adrian Smith won his case under contract law. He was awarded only £98 for loss of earnings. I und...

Is the noble Lord aware that the Equality Act 2010 does all of this? I recommend that he reads th...

The point I would make is that the Equality Act is shot through—I am sorry, I shall retract that....

My Lords, am I not right in thinking that the case that was brought to the attention of the Commi...

My Lords, perhaps I may say a word about Amendment 8 because I have some doubts about it. The fir...

Perhaps I may respond to that. I refer the noble Baroness to the judgment in the case of Williams...

My Lords, perhaps I may ask my noble friend a specific question, which has already been referred ...

My Lords, when we are looking at a Bill which has the intention of increasing respect for and giv...

My Lords, my noble friend Lady Thornton speaking from the Front Bench and my noble friend Lord Al...

My Lords, I know something about minority. However, I am a little confused because, in this amend...

My noble friend is playing on words somewhat. At Second Reading there was much contention as to w...

I will make a very brief response to the noble Lord, Lord Alli, who I think had possibly not fini...

My Lords, I rise to speak to Amendment 19, which is in my name and is part of this group of amend...

Would the noble Lord care to tell the House what he thinks is a reasonable limit to the view that...

I am happy to answer that point. Any freedom of speech should be open. It should be there, but it...

Surely the noble Lord will agree that all the clergyman in question sought to do was enunciate or...

I thank the noble Lord for that intervention. That is absolutely true. As a Sikh, expressing my b...

Perhaps the noble Lord can help me understand. The Government’s amendment tries to address this i...

The amendment is not as clear as it should be. I want it to be very precise in protecting these s...

Does the noble Lord know that under the Human Rights Act 1998 every part of this Bill must be con...

I thank the noble Lord for that intervention. I will not go too far into the Deputy Prime Ministe...

My Lords, to amplify briefly what I said before, Amendment 19 is completely unnecessary because t...

If I may briefly respond to that, it is true that the law covers a lot of things. It does not com...

My Lords, I will address Amendment 8 in particular. At Second Reading, I said that my early life ...

My Lords, it is absolutely necessary that some of these amendments should be on the Marshalled Li...

My Lords, we have had another interesting and informative discussion.

I wonder how much con...

My Lords, I am grateful to all noble Lords who have spoken in this very important and helpful deb...

The noble Baroness is making a very important point. She will know that concern has been expresse...

I am about to come to the specific examples that have been raised. I hope I will also give the no...

I am grateful to the Minister for giving way. I specifically did not say that. My amendment, if a...

Before the Minister answers that, I should like to be clear on whether the noble Lord, Lord Dear,...

I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Dear, for his intervention but I disagree that it is legiti...

I am very interested that my noble friend has touched on the commercial world. Can she comment on...

Yes, my Lords. I would have come to that once we reached a later amendment. My noble friend Lord ...

I am sorry but I am not sure that I follow the noble Baroness. The law is clear that this should ...

I am afraid that it is not possible for me to respond directly to that question because the case ...

Before the noble Baroness leaves the Public Order Act 1986, will she clarify that that Act relies...

Yes, I can confirm that it relates only to criminal law.

Returning to Amendment 54 from my ...

Can my noble friend confirm, so far as the civil law is concerned, that what I said about the Hum...

Absolutely. I am grateful to my noble friend for making that clear and glad to confirm that he is...

Earlier the noble Baroness mentioned that if a chauffeur turns up at a wedding and will not take ...

The chauffeur would be entirely legitimate in expressing the view, whether at work or outside wor...

I am sorry but the point I am making is: if the employer had deliberately asked that person to do...

He may have only one driver. It may be a very small firm and the only driver available is that dr...

Would it be legitimate for an employer to dismiss from employment as a chauffeur someone who had ...

We are now getting into so many different hypothetical scenarios—

Before the Minister answers that question, I wonder if I can give some free advice. The answer to...

I think I will take my noble friend’s free legal advice and refer the noble Lord, Lord Anderson, ...

My Lords, I have been waiting for some time to intervene to prevent my noble friend having to ans...