The Government has announced that it will not be extending civil partnerships to heterosexual couples, following a consultation.
More than 10,000 people responded to the online survey, and over three quarters of them disagreed with extending civil partnerships to opposite-sex couples.
The report from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said: “Given the lack of consensus on the way forward, the Government will not be making any changes.”
Majority
Of the 10,634 people that responded to the question, “What are your views about extending civil partnerships to opposite sex couples?” 8,102 said they should not be extended.
Less than a third of consultation respondents supported ending civil partnerships altogether, and the majority were against closing civil partnerships to new couples.
The Government also announced that civil partnerships will be able to be converted to marriages from 10 December this year.
Decision
Colin Hart, Campaign Director of the Coalition for Marriage, welcomed the decision.
“At last the Government is listening to the public, and is not going ahead with offering a ‘marriage-lite’ option to heterosexual couples.
“It would have undermined marriage, as civil partnerships do not require lifelong commitment.
Costly
“Opening them up to heterosexual couples would have been very costly to the taxpayer when only a tiny minority pushed for it.”
Homosexual rights campaigner Peter Tatchell disagreed with the Government’s announcement.
“Same-sex couples now have a legal advantage over straight couples. They have two options: civil marriage and civil partnership.
Unfair
“In contrast, opposite-sex couples have only one option: marriage. This is unjust and unfair,” he said.
In April, a Government source told The Sunday Times that the Prime Minister objected to plans for heterosexual civil partnerships.
The source told the newspaper: “Cameron sees it as undermining marriage and the party’s objection is largely driven by fear of a rebellion.”
Allowing heterosexual civil partnerships could have cost the country at least £3 billion in public service pension rights alone.