Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill

Baroness Neville-Jones Excerpts

Tuesday 4th June 2013 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Neville-Jones]

My Lords, I have also given notice that I wish to speak in the gap and gave notice, and shall do so briefly in view of the length of the debate. I did not put my name down at the beginning, because frankly I did not know what I thought about this difficult legislation. I still have great difficulty with this Bill, though I have greatly benefited from the extraordinary quality of the debate.

Marriage is certainly much more than a wedding. As the noble Baroness, Lady O’Loan, pointed out, it has huge ramifications that have not been explored. How could they have been explored in the other place, given the bulldozer that applied? I entirely agree with what my noble friend has just said about the process to which this important legislation has been subjected. I come, however, to a different conclusion about what this House should do about it.

It would not be wise for us to reject this legislation at Second Reading. We have a duty and the right to take it through Committee. That is our function. I beg the Front Bench and the usual channels to afford us more than two days in Committee. If we reject the Bill now, it is a perversion of the function of this House, so I hope and expect that there will be more days available for discussion, given the extraordinary ramifications of this legislation. We need to know that the safeguards that have been claimed are robust. We need to know that the sorts of issues that have been raised can be pinned down and that we have definitions. We may call this thing marriage, but there will be two different categories, and we have to be clear about what the legal position is. I do not support the Bill as it stands, but I will not oppose it going to Committee.