In 2004, civil partnerships were introduced but numbers declined when gay marriage was legalised in 2014.
It now looks like they could potentially be scrapped or made available to both heterosexual and gay couples in a government review. Watch this space for further updates.
Civil partnerships in England and Wales could be scrapped or made available to heterosexual as well as gay couples, in a government review. Ministers are set to back a bid by Tory MP Tim Loughton to equalise the law on civil partnerships. Mr Loughton had originally wanted to amend the existing law to include mixed sex couples. But that has been dropped from his bill in favour of the promise of a government review. This could result in equality being achieved by scrapping civil partnerships for everyone.
