David Cameron’s inability to control his party must not be allowed to wreck the Equal Marriage Bill. Labour’s commitment unwavering.
— Ed Miliband (@Ed_Miliband) May 20, 2013
The British prime minister, David Cameron, is beginning, alas, to resemble the last Tory PM, John Major, in his inability to control his right flank, especially on Europe, their bugaboo, but also on core social reforms, like marriage equality. Over the weekend, a rebel group of Euroskeptics and social reactionaries, led by a former minister Tim Loughton, cynically backed an amendment to the marriage equality bill that would also allow all heterosexuals to get civil partnerships, a move that has all but destroyed marriage as a distinct and socially stabilizing institution in France.
It reveals, it seems to me, the extent to which this group of Tories are anti-gay, rather than pro-marriage. Nothing would hurt civil marriage as an institution more than universal civil partnerships – which may also cost the Treasury up to $5 billion a year. As of yesterday, there was a sense of real crisis – as the Tory amendment was backed by Labour.
Today, however, the Archbishop of Canterbury came out against the amendment and the opposition Labour party withdrew its support and offered instead an immediate consultation on the question of universal civil partnerships as well as full support for the marriage equality bill. In the words of the Labour shadow Home secretary:
“We would urge the government, we would urge the Liberal Democrats, we would urge backbenchers of all parties to support this [Labour] amendment to allow the bill to pass without the Tim Loughton amendment for the time being but also allowing an immediate consultation to start on the opposite-sex civil partnerships. On that basis we would recommend to people not to support the Tim Loughton amendment.”
Labour has the backing of the Liberal Democrats who are in coalition with the Tories. Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, said this morning that
“It’s my party’s policy there should be civil partnerships for heterosexual couples so we’ve no problem with the principle at all. But it’s a pragmatic question. I don’t want anything to interfere with the central purpose of this legislation, which is to provide the right to marriage to same sex couples.”
There will be a vote later today. It will not be a party-line vote, so there’s no assurance of anything. We’ll keep you posted. But this has proven to be another sign that the Tories cannot cohere as a party of government. To have a key part of the government’s agenda rescued by the opposition reveals a prime minister whose grip on his own party is steadily weakening because of the ferocity of the far right.
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
The Dish 