Civil Partnerships For Everyone?

A recent survey of 2,000 British people found that 57% thought that civil partnerships should be made available to all couples - both mixed-sex and same-sex. Currently civil partnerships are only available for same-sex couples which would appear to contravene the principle of equality. This was highlighted by the recent publicised case of Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Keidan who lost their Court of Appeal battle for the right to enter into a civil partnership. The Court of Appeal did comment however that the current situation cannot continue indefinitely. 

The government are yet to decide whether to open civil partnerships to mixed-sex couples or whether to scrap them altogether, given that same-sex couples can now marry. However, the campaign for Equal Civil Partnerships argues that civil partnerships provide an alternative to marriage and for some, represents a more modern form of legal union. Indeed, only 20% of respondents in the survey believed that civil partnerships should be removed altogether. It would therefore appear that the position in favour of opening civil partnerships to all couples is gaining popularity. 

Matt Hawkins, Campaign Manager for the Equal Civil Partnerships Campaign commented: 

“This survey adds to the mound of evidence demonstrating that giving every couple the option of getting a civil partnership would be the popular and fair thing to do.”