Equal marriage in Northern Ireland
I have received a lot of correspondence on the issue of Northern Ireland and equal marriage. To be absolutely clear, I strongly support the current position on Equal Marriage that applies in England, and understand that this policy has positively impacted the lives of many of my constituents.
However, I did not support the amendment relating to this matter when voted on in July 2019 because I felt the question of equal marriage in Northern Ireland should be decided by the Northern Ireland Assembly, not by the UK Parliament ‘in absentia’ (given that the Assembly was not sitting at the time). In other words, my position was based on respect for the current agreed devolution settlement rather than on the substantive matter of equal marriage itself.
I felt, and continue to feel, that we should focus our energy on restoring the NI Assembly rather than imposing this (or other potentially controversial policies) on Northern Ireland from Westminster, no matter how strongly some might feel that change should be imposed. I am pleased that there appear to be tentative steps towards restoring the Assembly. It has been argued that passing the amendment in July should pressure the Assembly, once restored, to act. That is a fair point and were that to happen in practice I would welcome such a development. It is certainly the best outcome that Equal Marriage is legislated for in Northern Ireland, but ideally with the explicit consent of the people of Northern Ireland, through its devolved legislative chamber.
