The Act was announced in the
Queen's Speech at the start of the 2003/2004 legislative session, and its full text was revealed on 31 March 2004. It received
royal assent on 18 November 2004 and came into force on 5 December 2005, allowing the first couples to form civil partnerships 15 days later. Confusion regarding the interpretation of the Act led to registrations being accepted from 19 December in Northern Ireland, 20 December in Scotland and 21 December in England and Wales. The
Scottish Parliament voted in favour of a
Legislative Consent Motion allowing
Westminster to legislate for Scotland in this Act.
Political opposition and support The
Bill was backed by the
Labour Party, the
Liberal Democrats,
Plaid Cymru, the
SNP and the
SDLP. It was opposed by the
DUP and the
UUP. This decision was described by some in the British media as an attempt to demonstrate a shift to a more inclusive, centrist approach under the leadership of
Michael Howard, and as a departure from the alleged active opposition to LGBT rights under the leadership of
Iain Duncan Smith. As party leader, Duncan Smith had imposed a
three-line whip against the
Adoption and Children Bill, mandating all Conservative MPs to vote against extending adoption rights to same-sex couples. Conservative MPs split 67 in favour to 37 against at the second reading, and 43 in favour to 39 against at the third reading. High-profile Conservative MPs who voted against the Civil Partnerships Bill included Iain Duncan Smith,
Ann Widdecombe,
Bob Spink and
Peter Lilley. Those who voted in favour included
David Cameron,
George Osborne and party leader Michael Howard. Around 30 Conservative MPs did not participate in any of the votes.
Amendments An amendment tabled by Conservative MP
Edward Leigh proposed to extend the property and pension rights afforded by civil partnerships to siblings who had lived together for more than 12 years. This was opposed by many backers of the bill, such as frontbench Conservative MP
Alan Duncan, who considered it a
wrecking amendment. Leigh himself was an opponent of the Civil Partnerships bill, and voted against it at the second reading. Labour and the Liberal Democrats issued a whip against the Leigh Amendment, and only two MPs from each party rebelled to vote in favour of it. Like the Leigh amendment, opponents considered the O'Cathain amendment to be a wrecking amendment, and like Leigh, O'Cathain herself voted against the Civil Partnerships Bill. Labour Peer Baron Alli, said the amendment was "ill-conceived and does nothing other than undermine the purpose of the bill", The
House of Commons later voted 381–74 to remove this amendment, and sent the revised Bill back to the Lords for reconsideration. On 17 November, the Lords accepted the Commons version by a vote of 251 to 136; the bill received royal assent the next day. == Legal process to form a civil partnership in the UK ==