About Bloody Time: Gay Marriage plans to go ahead

Plans to legalise gay marriage are to proceed through Parliament in England and Wales backing Labour, despite opposition from some MPs.

The bill will be debated over two days with a final reading next Tuesday when if passed it will go to the Lords where it is expected to face more opposition.

Conservatives had offered an amendment to allow heterosexual couples to have civil partnerships if gay couples could get married.

Tim Loughton (Conservative MP) said the amendment would make the bill "less unpalatable  since extending civil partnerships to co-habiting heterosexuals would address a "glaring inequality" in the current proposals as well as encouraging family stability.

Nick Clegg said he had no problem extending civil partnerships to heterosexual couples as well.

On Sunday, 34 current and former local party chairmen delivered a letter to Downing Street opposing the gay marriage policy as "flawed, un-Conservative, divisive and costing us dearly in votes and membership".

They said it was causing "crisis of conservatism" saying that Europe, same-sex marriage and the "contempt" for party membership from the leadership were "destroying the party".

My thoughts...

Stop thinking about your God forsaken party and start thinking about all the couples in the England and Wales that are going to benefit from the same-sex marriage bill. Its already taken this long for the bill to go to Parliament now lets just pass it, with an amendment for civil partnerships for all if its going to make you happy.

Happily, another letter was sent to Cameron from 100 Tory activists praising him for his stance on the policy.

Under the new Bill, Church of England and Wales would be banned from performing same-sex marriages because of their strong opposition and other religious organisations would be able to opt-in.

Last week France became the ninth European country, and 14th in the world, to legalise gay marriage. Earlier this month Rhode Island became the 10th US state to allow same-sex marriages.

All I can say is just do it already for the sake of equality and freedom.

Prime Minister's Questions

So I watched Prime Minister's questions earlier today and two things stuck out for me:

1. David Cameron almost never answers the question that's actually been asked. He just tries to big-up Conservative policy anytime he can.

2. Both the coalition and the Opposition can fire attacks at each other about the economy, but all it did was make me realise that actually, neither side is going to get us out of the economic mess. Cameron spent the time saying that its a mess that the previous Labour government got us in to, whilst Ed Miliband pointed out all the flaws in the current policy. So as it turns out, as long as all of these (mainly) Eton posh boys are in the Commons, nothing is going to get sorted.

The Leveson Inquiry

Lord Justice Leveson has called for a new independent body for the press after saying that “the press need to act”.

A campaign has now been launched by inquiry witnesses for MPs to implement a new body.

In his report, published on November 29^th, Lord Justice Leveson said that the press needed a new independent regulatory body that should have the power to investigate any breaches and be able to sanction newspapers. This new body should then be backed with legislation to determine whether the body is doing its job properly. This legislation would mean a legal duty put on the government to protect freedom of the press.

Newspapers that refuse to sign up this new body will be required to face direct regulation by Ofcom, the media watchdog.

The body should be independent of current journalists, the government and commercial concerns. It should also not include any current editors or MPs or other government members.

The report also suggests that a “whistle-blowing hotline” should be set up for journalists who feel under pressure to do something unethical and have journalists’ contracts include a clause protecting them if they refuse to perform unethical practises.

The report has split the coalition with Prime Minister David Cameron firmly against statutory control, whereas Deputy Prime Minster Nick Clegg, along with Opposition leader Ed Miliband, wants to see Lord Justice Leveson’s proposals implemented with a new law on the press.

Cameron believes that setting up such a body will only show how difficult it is to regulate in such a controversial area. Both Clegg and Miliband believe the opposite will be achieved.

 The Department for Culture, Media and Sport are currently drafting a bill that is thought to take a few weeks for it to be completed.

On Friday, the newspapers came out welcoming a new regulatory body, but supported Cameron’s opposition to the law-backed legislation, rejecting the idea of statute and involving Ofcom.

Gerry McCann, father of missing girl Madeline, has said to the BBC that, “The press has been given enough chances, and in my opinion Lord [Justice] Leveson has given them another chance to put a structure in place which they are happy with."

Actor Steve Coogan wrote in the Guardian: “By rejecting Leveson's call for statutory regulation, Cameron has hung the victims of crime out to dry. He has passed on the opportunity to make history. He has revealed there isn't an ounce of substance in his body, that he has one eye on courting the press for elections in years to come, and doesn't know the meaning of conviction.”

We wait to see the future results of the Leveson report and the effects on the press.