A Sky News poll is 3-1 in favour of the proposed laws to provide cohabiting couples with similar rights to married ones. Well, we all want equal rights these days, don't we.
But I wonder if this isn't another government initiative that makes a good headline but can have unforeseen consequences?
Yesterday Burnley Council was offering a Mea Culpa over its well-meaning housing policies that just happened to spark race riots. Last week the PM was slagging off the human rights legislation he introduced, and wasn't there a furore some time ago about the legal reforms that happen to have promoted a compensation culture?
Instead of celebrating equal legal rights for living-in-sin, I wonder if a decade on we will be wringing our hands at a commitment-phobic culture whereby men - already wary of the potentially catastrophic financial consequences of a failed marriage - now avoid any semblance of cohabitation for fear of the same? Where once couples would "suck it and see" so to speak, they now keep a (legally-measurable) distance?
On the contrary, according to Sir Roger Toulson, the High Court judge developing the proposals.
More people might marry because partners would no longer avoid financial responsibilities.
Er... up to a point, Sir Roger.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
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