Humanist Marriage

Sam Carling Excerpts

Thursday 12th June 2025 Westminster Hall

[Sam Carling (North West Cambridgeshire) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dame Siobhain. I thank my hon. Friends the Members for Tamworth (Sarah Edwards) and for Morecambe and Lunesdale (Lizzi Collinge) and the hon. Member for Henley and Thame (Freddie van Mierlo), who secured this debate. It has been worth it for all the puns, if nothing else.

I will use my time to speak about what a positive impact making this change would have, particularly for LGBT couples. In the 2021 census, 37% of people in England and Wales identified as having no religion. Among lesbian, gay and bisexual people, that jumps up to 63%. The numbers for trans people, while a bit less clear due to some issues with the census, are similar. With that in mind, it stands to reason that those LGBT couples would generally prefer to have a non-religious ceremony when they get married.

Indeed, that is what is happening. Humanists UK, whose stats I will be quoting throughout—I also declare an interest as a member of the all-party parliamentary humanist group—has found that, following the legislation of same-sex marriage in 2013, humanist celebrants do more same-sex marriages without legal recognition every year than there are legally recognised religious same-sex marriages. That means that many people are opting for these meaningful, inclusive ceremonies even though they do not carry legal weight. That says something very powerful about the demand. Part of that is out of necessity. Humanists UK’s statistics have also shown that less than 1% of places of worship in England and Wales have registered to perform same-sex marriages, so, in practice, a lot of the time, LGBT couples who want to get married and have their union properly recognised are left with very few real options.

That is not to downplay the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013, which was a big step forward in LGBT rights. To give credit where it is due, that Act was one of very few positives under the previous Conservative Governments, albeit something that got through only because Members from other parties, particularly my own, supported it. That Act, as others have said, included a provision for an order to be laid in future to recognise humanist marriages without the need for further primary legislation, so we could make this change very quickly.

In Labour’s 2024 election manifesto, we committed to strengthening the rights and protections of cohabiting couples. The Minister cited that in response to a recent written question on humanist marriages, which I was pleased to see. I know the Government are currently considering the recommendations from the Law Commission report on weddings and will hopefully confirm the position on that soon. I look forward to that development, as I know humanists have been waiting a long time for legal recognition. I hope we hear more about that today.

There is huge support among various religious groups for this change, as my hon. Friend the Member for Tamworth said. More recent polling has shown there are majorities in favour across all religious groups, as well as across voters of all major political parties. Last year, Sandi Toksvig and Stephen Fry were joined by Stonewall, the Terrence Higgins Trust, the LGBT+ Consortium and the LGBT+ groups affiliated to all three major political parties in writing to the Prime Minister about what recognition would do for LGBT couples. This seems to be one of those issues on which pretty much everyone agrees.

Given the overwhelming public support, the ease with which this could be introduced and the impact it would have on LGBT couples in particular, I hope we see recognition of humanist marriages in England and Wales, joining Scotland and Northern Ireland, so that everyone in the UK has the option to have a legally recognised humanist ceremony.