by Simon Calvert, The Critic
The government should not blur the line between married and cohabiting couples
Marriage in Britain has been in retreat for half a century. In 1972, 7 out of 10 UK adults were married — today, it’s less than half. This drop in “I Do’s” isn’t just unfortunate for those searching for their “happily ever after”. Fewer marriages statistically means fewer children too: hence, the nation’s plummet to a 1.4 fertility rate.
Against that backdrop, you might expect a government worried about family breakdown, falling birth rates and an ageing population to ask how more couples can be encouraged to marry.
Instead, Labour is proposing the opposite. Rather than strengthening the institution, it wants to blur the distinction with cohabitation by giving many couples marriage-like legal rights without requiring them to make marriage’s defining commitment.
The Government’s consultation, A Fairer End to Relationships, closes tomorrow. It proposes a new legal framework for unmarried couples who separate after having lived together for three years or more. The changes could see exes facing cost-orders impacting property and finances, while surviving cohabitants could gain inheritance rights if their partner dies without a valid will – even impacting the claims of surviving children of a previous marriage. The framework would apply automatically unless both partners agree to opt out.
That is a remarkable proposition. Marriage requires consent. Yet under these proposals, two people could acquire significant legal obligations towards one another simply by living together for long enough — and most of the public barely know this is happening.