Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make it his policy to extend legal recognition to humanist marriages in order to enhance the diversity of choices for types of marriage ceremonies available to same-sex couples.

Assessment of the potential merits of provision for non-religious belief marriages can be found in the consultation paper and response published by a previous Government in 2014 and available at justice.gov.uk.

Amending the existing law on marriage to make provision for legally valid humanist ceremonies would involve a range of issues for the Government to consider carefully. We have no plans to amend this legislation.