The House of Commons voted overwhelmingly last night (426 to 49) to give the Civil Partnerships Bill its Second Reading. Also, in a surprise move, the government has announced that it has changed its stance toward equal pension rights for gays and lesbians who form civil partnerships by announcing that those in registered same-sex partnerships will be able to accrue equal pension rights in respect of those in public sector pension schemes from 1988.
Earlier amendments by the House of Lords, which were characterised (correctly) as designed to 'wreck' the bill, were removed by the House of Commons, with the agreement of the Conservative Party (some of whose members in the House of Lords were most closely associated with the amendments) and it, apart from a few diehard opponents [the usual suspects], supported the Bill.
Altogether a pretty good result. However, until the signature of HM The Queen is on the Bill to make it law, I will hold the champagne on ice ...
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