My Lords, there will always be situations where there are disagreements. Nevertheless, it has been the case that efforts were made to engage with not just the Sikh community but with other communities. It is a fundamental part of the Bill that the Government readily recognise—indeed the official Opposition readily recognise too—that there are religious organisations and faith communities which do not believe in same-sex marriage. That is why an important part of the architecture of this Bill is to give protection to these faiths. That is an important part that has come out of the discussions and the process that have brought us to where we are today with this Bill.
It was also suggested that the Government had somehow been impervious to argument. It is worth reminding the House that, as part of the whole process, the Government listened to what the Church in Wales said and produced an opt-in procedure. There has been additional protection for chaplains employed as members of staff. We added ecclesiastical law to the measures not affected by the Bill. We have clarified that marriages of same-sex couples are void when the couple are aware that their religion has not opted in. We have ensured that the consent of a governing authority to opt in to same-sex marriage does not automatically fall if the governing authority changes.
Significantly, on Report on Monday—and the noble Baroness, Lady O’Loan, commended the Government for this—we introduced an amendment which gave extended meaning to the word “compelled”. We also brought forward an amendment to change the Public Order Act to clarify that criticism of same-sex marriage is not a hate crime. On other issues, for example on humanist weddings, the Government have been prepared to listen. There were amendments earlier today on fast-track procedure for gender recognition, and a technical, though important, amendment to reflect the absence of a legislative consent Motion from Northern Ireland for overseas marriages in consulates or Armed Forces bases. On a number of these issues the Government have listened and made appropriate amendments to the Bill.
It has also been said that the use of referendums in the United Kingdom remains very much the exception in our constitution. The noble Lord, Lord Pannick, my noble friend Lord Norton of Louth, and indeed myself, were members of your Lordships’ House’s Constitution Committee when we looked at the issue of referendums. I do not think that I am betraying any secrets—it comes through in the report—that we thought
referendums should be the exception. However, the genie was out of the bottle and therefore if referendums was going to be used the report clearly stated that they should be on matters of substantial constitutional significance. It gave some examples: to abolish the Monarchy; to leave the European Union—the subject of the debate in the House of Commons last Friday; for any of the nations of the United Kingdom to secede from the UK; to change the electoral system for the House of Commons; and to change the UK’s system of currency. While I recognise that what we have been debating in your Lordships’ House on this Bill is a matter of profound social policy, I do not think that by any stretch of the imagination it could be described as a matter of substantial constitutional significance. We acknowledge that what we are doing is a significant change to marriage law, and I recognise that many are uneasy about the proposals, but I say again that this is not a significant constitutional matter.
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I do not want to intrude on Conservative Party discussions between my two very distinguished noble friends with distinguished Cabinet careers—my noble friends Lord Fowler and Lord Waddington. However, the Conservative Party indicated in A Contract for Equalities, published alongside its election manifesto, that it would consider the case for same-sex marriage. Again, the point made by my noble friend Lord Fowler that this matter has been debated in the elected Chamber. Quite apart from being passed by a substantial majority in this Chamber, it was significantly passed by a very substantial majority in a free vote in the elected Chamber.
I listened to the noble Lord, Lord Martin, who was, of course, a very distinguished Speaker of the other House. He reminded us of the poll tax in Scotland. The noble Lord and I live in Scotland. I tread very carefully and sensitively with Conservative noble friends here, but the Conservative Party did not exactly reap electoral dividends from what it did with the poll tax in Scotland. I think the Conservative Party would be the first to accept that its electoral performance since the poll tax has not exactly been an example of how you can ignore what the people say and get away with it.