It would seem that the government will push ahead with civil partnerships being open to all couples following the Supreme Court ruling in Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Keidan case in June 2018.There are now over 3 million couples living together in the UK. Just because you live together does not mean that you have entitlements if one of you dies, or if you separate. There is no thing in law as a “common-law spouse”. Becoming civil partners means couples will get these benefits without having to get married.

The government has consulted twice on the continued operation of civil partnerships (in 2012 and again in 2014) but at that time there was no consensus about how civil partnerships should change. Whether it decides to consult again on the issue has yet to be decided but the Guardian report that MP Tim Laughton’s private member’s bill to create equal civil partnerships could be used to make the change which could be as soon as the end of this month (October.)