Fathers only on marriage certificates ‘to avoid offence’

Bill to include both parents’ names blocked on grounds of ‘unfairness’ to same-sex couples

MINISTERS have rejected a proposed new law to include the names of mothers on their children’s marriage certificates because it would not be fair to same-sex couples.

David Cameron, the Prime Minister, promised to change the certificates, which currently only include the names of the fathers of the bride and groom, saying in 2014 that the current arrangement “does not reflect modern Britain.”

MPs proposed a new law to allow the Government to replace tens of thousands of marriage certificate books with ones that include a box for a mother’s name.

However, the Home Office said that it could not agree with the plans which have been supported by tens of thousands of people in an online petition, because they did not allow for samesex marriages.

Campaigners said the decision to delay making the simple change to certificates was “political correctness defying common sense”.

The Bill, which will be debated by MPs next month, would amend the Marriage Act 1949 and the Civil Partnership Act 2004 “to make provision for the recording of the name and occupation of the mother of each party to a marriage or civil partnership for registration purposes”.

The changes would also “require such information to be displayed on marriage certificates and civil partnerships.”

Christina Rees, a Labour MP who proposed the legislation, said: “It is safe to extrapolate that hundreds of thousands of marriages have taken place while the Government failed to act.

“That is hundreds of thousands of instances in which women have been accorded second-class status. In a developed country in the 21st century, that beggars belief.”

Richard Harrington, a Home Office minister, said the Government could not agree with the proposals in the Bill because they did not allow for “different family circumstances”. Home Office sources said one example was a couple in a same-sex relationship.

He said the Bill “does not reform the whole process. It would simply require the replacement of tens of thousands of books at a cost of £3 million.

“The Bill does not take account of different family circumstances, where there may not be a mother and father. Members have mentioned many particular cases relating to that. It also does not give flexibility for the future.”

Colin Hart, director of the Coalition for Marriage, said: “For most ordinary people, naming the mother and father on a marriage certificate is an obvious thing to do, and they could see no reason why the whole proposal should be vetoed because of a tiny proportion of children born into other relationships.

“This is political correctness defying common sense.

“This is a small change but one which makes a huge difference to a large number of people and it is being denied because of concerns about offending people in a same-sex marriage.”

Mr Hart suggested that one solution could be for the changes to still go ahead to marriage certificates and for same-sex couples to be able to sign a different document.

‘This is political correctness defying common sense. For most, naming the mother and father is obvious’