Written question asked by Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat) on Friday, 28 November 2025, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 2 December 2025. It was answered by Alex Davies-Jones (Labour) on Thursday, 4 December 2025 on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.
Cohabitation: West Dorset
- Question
-
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of differences in legal protections between co-habiting and married couples on families in West Dorset.
- Answer
-
The Government shares concerns that existing protections for cohabiting couples are limited and the weakness of these protections can disproportionately affect women, children and the vulnerable. The Government considers this to be an issue that affects communities across England and Wales, including in rural constituencies like West Dorset.
Cohabitation reform is a matter of utmost importance. That is why the Government committed in its manifesto to strengthen rights and protections for cohabiting couples. We will be launching a public consultation by Spring next year to explore how best to strengthen cohabitants’ rights, while maintaining marriage as one of our most important institutions.
Secondary information
- Type
- Written question
- Reference
- 95565
- Session
- 2024-26
- Grouped for answer
- Yes
- Subjects
- Cohabitation Families Protection Married people West Dorset
- Link
- View this Written question on www.parliament.uk
Librarians' tools
- Timestamp
- 2025-12-04 15:46:13 +0000
- URI
- http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/commons/2024-26/95565
- In Indexing
- http://indexing.parliament.uk/Content/Edit/1?uri=http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/commons/2024-26/95565
- In Solr
- https://search.parliament.uk/claw/solr/?id=http://data.parliament.uk/writtenparliamentaryquestion/commons/2024-26/95565