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Civil Partnerships, Marriages and Deaths (Registration Etc.) Bill: Briefing for Lords Stages

The Civil Partnerships, Marriages and Deaths (Registration Etc.) Bill is a private member’s bill consisting of six clauses. The bill would facilitate the move from a paper-based system of marriage registration towards a partially electronic system (allowing several connected changes to how marriages are registered) and would grant opposite-sex couples the right to form civil partnerships (currently, only same-sex couples can form civil partnerships). It would also require the Government to publish reports on whether the law should be changed to allow the registration of pregnancy losses which occur before 24 weeks gestation and on whether coroners should be allowed or required to investigate still-births.   

It is due to receive second reading in the House of Lords on 18 January 2019, having completed its Commons stages, with cross-party and Government support, on 26 October 2018. It is sponsored in the House of Lords by Baroness Hodgson of Abinger (Conservative).