A bill that could force the Church of England to allow same-sex weddings will be proposed in parliament by a coalition of MPs from across the main parties.
According to The Times:
Ben Bradshaw, the Labour MP and former culture secretary, will present a ten-minute rule motion in the Commons next Tuesday asking that “leave be given to bring in a bill to enable clergy of the Church of England to conduct same-sex marriages on Church of England premises”.
His co-sponsors include Harriet Harman, the former deputy Labour leader; Robert Buckland, the Conservative MP and former lord chancellor; Dame Margaret Beckett, the Labour MP and former foreign secretary; Sir Peter Bottomley, the Conservative father of the House; and Hilary Benn, the Labour MP and former environment secretary.
They also include Caroline Nokes and Iain Stewart from the Tories, Diana Johnson and Chris Bryant from Labour, Caroline Lucas from the Greens and Daisy Cooper, the deputy leader of the Lib Dems.
Bradshaw’s proposal states that same-sex weddings should be permitted in church “in certain circumstances”, stressing that no priest, parish or cathedral would be forced to conduct gay weddings if they objected.
He said his proposal would pave the way for priests to conduct same-sex weddings if they wished.
He will have ten minutes to present his proposal in parliament but the bill is unlikely to have time during this parliamentary session to progress further and become law.
A number of MPs have threatened to use legislation to pressure the Church into accepting same-sex marriage. It prompted anger from the Archbishop of Canterbury last month, who said: “I have heard them . . . in parliament and being told exactly what to do. I’m not doing any of it.”
The General Synod, the Church’s parliament, voted last month not to back same-sex weddings but did vote to allow priests to offer blessings to same-sex couples. Bradshaw said that he wanted to ensure the Church “does not backslide on its proposals” at the next synod meeting in July.
The synod has the final say over changes to Church teaching but it is a devolved body of parliament.
The Church’s website states: “It remains possible for legislation concerning the Church of England to be made by Act of Parliament” but adds that there is “a constitutional convention that parliament will not legislate for the internal affairs of the Church of England without its consent.”
