It is a real thrill when a Bill with which you are associated becomes an Act. The Marriage (Wales) Bill has now received Royal Assent and has become the Marriage (Wales) Act 2010.
The change in the law could not be more simple. Until now if two people wished to get married in church, it had to be the church where they lived or attended regularly. The Marriage (Wales) Act has now allows them to get married in any Church where they have a ‘significant connection’, for example; the church where their parents or grandparents married or the Church where one of them was brought up, even if they have subsequently moved away.
It is an irony that the Church of England was able to make this change in 2008 with a simple order, whereas the (disestablished) Church in Wales requires that most fragile of Parliamentary measures, a Private Members Bill. I intend to see if we can change that for the future. However on this occasion, the process brought out the best in Westminster. MPs of all parties supported my bill
There are a great many issues when spirited ideological debate is good and healthy, but on this issue there was a simple problem and a simple solution. The divisions of party were put aside so that people can now get married in a place that is important to them.
It seemed so simple – but what surprised me was the enthusiasm and the personal stories that emerged as the bill went through. Our own Vicar in Penarth tells me it will make his life a lot easier and two of my constituents at the other end of the patch – in Llanrumney – became stars of television as they re-lived their own wedding which could only take place in the same Church as the groom’s parents and grandparents with the benefit of a special license from the Archbishop of Canterbury. It goes the show that legislation can make things easier.