Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill

Lord Forsyth of Drumlean Excerpts

Tuesday 4th June 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Forsyth of Drumlean]

My Lords, I will speak very briefly in the gap, of which I have given notice. I think I am entitled to four minutes, which is the time people in the other place—the elected Members—had to talk on a matter of this importance.

I am usually at one with my noble friend Lord Norton of Louth, but when he says that it is up to us to decide I say no, it is not. We can make laws, but they have to carry consent. Next week it will be 30 years since I was first elected to the other place. I have never known a measure—not even the poll tax—that has produced such division and concern on both sides of the argument. It is important that we take account of that. What worries me about the Bill is the speed with which it has been whisked through the House of Commons and is now being whisked through here. I am told that we are going to be allowed two days in Committee. As the noble Lord, Lord Brennan, pointed out, the Civil Partnership Bill had far more than that—I think it had five days in Committee. The idea that we can deal with a matter of this importance in two days in Committee when we have had two days on Second Reading is ridiculous. What is the haste? What is forcing the pace of this matter?

On the letters and e-mails we have had, I acknowledge that some people who have written have used quite offensive terms. One of the qualities of the debate that we have had so far in this House has been the civilised and respectful way in which we have listened to the arguments. I would have preferred the House of Commons to have dealt with this matter in the normal way, as we have done on other controversial issues: a Private Member’s Bill, with the Government providing time, and with a Committee of the whole House. Instead, we had a Committee which was stacked and a guillotine—and, by the way, we had a manifesto commitment to end the automatic timetabling of Bills. This Bill, above all others, should not have been subject to a timetable Motion.

In this House we are now faced with the question which I want to address. I will be supporting the amendment in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Dear, because the House of Commons needs to think again. It needs to produce a White Paper or a Green Paper, and the public need to be involved in this discussion so that it carries consent. At the end of the day, consent is the most important thing. Listening to the debate in this House, and to the right reverend Prelate, I believe that consensus can be achieved, but the Bill is no way to achieve it.

The Bill was certainly not a manifesto commitment. My noble friend says that it does not matter. Yes, it does. If it had been, it would have been quite wrong for us to vote for the amendment in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Dear. This House is entitled to vote for the noble Lord’s amendment because the House of Commons has not had an opportunity properly to consider it, and indeed, the Bill would not have come to this place had a deal not been done by the Labour Front Bench with the Government to support the Bill in return for a commitment to consider whether civil partnerships should be extended to heterosexual couples. That is a very important measure that could be taken, but we are told that it is very complicated, it will take a very long time, and they need that time. This is very complicated as well. We are entitled to vote for the amendment in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Dear, and I shall do so, because the process by which this Bill has been handled is inappropriate, and has left the country divided, bewildered and puzzled by something that has come out of a blue sky. That is not a proper way in which to make such a major social reform.