Proposed change to marriage certificate registration to include mothers details to reflect “modern Britain”

Marriage and Civil Partnership Registration (Mothers’ Names) Bill is scheduled to have its second reading on 4 March 2016. The Bill will provide that both parents of each party must record their names for registration purposes on a marriage certificate. Currently only the father’s details are recorded on the marriage certificate. Labour MP Christina Rees, who proposed the legislation, said: “It is safe to extrapolate that hundreds of thousands of marriages have taken place while the Government failed to act. That is hundreds of thousands of instances in which women have been accorded second-class status. In a developed country in the 21st century that beggars belief.” However there are criticisms of the proposed change; Home Office Minister Richard Harrington said the Government could not agree with the proposed change as they did not incorporate those with “different family circumstances, where there may not be a mother and father” but the current situation does not reflect “modern Britain” where it is possible for one party to a marriage to have two mothers.