Exclusive: Tory MPs push government for French-style ‘civil union’ weddings

Two Conservative MPs are pushing for the government to consider separating the civil functions of marriage from the religious as part of the same sex marriage bill, I understand.

David Burrowes and Tim Loughton, who both voted against the legislation at second reading, have tabled an amendment to its first clause designed to spark a debate about whether Britain should have a system similar to France or South Africa, where the state controls the legal registration of marriages, but any wedding ceremony is down to religious institutions and venues (Hugo Rifkind extolled the benefits of this system earlier this year in The Spectator, and Matthew Parris similarly outlined the way South Africa managed to do it in his piece in December). The point is that this would allow the government to legalise same-sex weddings and ensure equality before the law, but leave religious groups to do whatever it was that they believed to be right, without the slightly odd situation that currently exists of the state having to ban the Church from doing something, even if it’s something the Church currently doesn’t want to do.