My letter asking my MP to vote for equal(ish) marriage

If you're a regular reader of this blog, there's a tiny chance you might have formed the impression that I'm totally in favour of allowing couples who love each other to get married. End of.

The Bill on offer in the House of Commons today doesn't quite deliver that, but it's a huge step in the right direction. 

I have written to my MP, Graeme Morrice, to ask him to support the Bill. Here's what I said. I'll let you know what he says. To be honest, I'd be very surprised if he was voting against, but he still needs to be told how I feel.

Dear Graeme

Just a quick note to say that I hope you will support the bill to allow couples of the same sex to get married. This affects so many of my friends. I don’t see why their love is any different to the love I share with my husband and it is so unfair that the state doesn’t recognise it in the same way.

There are things that need to be amended about this bill – I, personally, would prefer there not to be a specific exclusion for the Church of England and Church of Wales, and there are real issues re the marriages of transgender people. I hope that these can be dealt with as it progresses through Parliament.

I often wonder how it would feel if there were some arbitrary law saying that you couldn’t marry someone more than 10 years older than you. That would have stopped me from spending 25 happy years of marriage with my lovely husband. Our failure to allow couples of the same sex to marry is quite disgraceful and must end.

To those who suggest that redefining marriage is something that we shouldn’t be doing, it’s only 150 years since a married woman had the right to have her own property. In fact, only 20 years ago, judges were saying that men couldn’t rape their wives, something which has thankfully been changed. Marriage has changed, a great deal, and for the better. This bill enhances marriage and I hope that you will vote for it enthusiastically today.

Best wishes

Caron

Update: Well, that was fast. It took Graeme Morrice just 79 minutes to confirm that he will be supporting the  Bill tonight. Excellent stuff. I'm not particularly surprised, but the other side fill MPs' inboxes with their views, so it's important to get some balance in there. 

Has Labour given up on Livingston?

I live in what should be one of the most hotly contested marginal seats in Scotland, Livingston. The incumbent, Jim Devine, is one of the 3 former MPs who have been charged with expenses fraud and whose ongoing court proceedings provide a sombre backdrop to the election campaign. Devine was deselected by Labour last year, leaving Livingston pretty much hung out to dry, without a functioning MP to help people with their problems. On the occasions I raised issues with him, I received responses from his staff which were about as far removed from the point as it was possible to get.

Anyway, Livingston Labour selected former Council leader and still sitting Councillor Graeme Morrice in February. You would think that they would have realised that they had a lot of making up to do to the people of Livingston given recent events and given the fact that they no longer represent the seat in the Scottish Parliament.

In fact, I haven't had a cheep from them and neither has anyone else I know. Not a leaflet, not a phone call, nothing. When some Liberal Democrat teams are well into their second leaflet of the campaign, let alone what went before the election, Labour just don't seem to be bothered.

There can only be two explanations for this:

1 They know that they're going to lose the seat so they just aren't bothering.

2 They are so arrogant that they think they'll get in without trying.

I wonder which it is.

Oh, and by the way, the SNP haven't done that much either. We've had one leaflet from them, delivered by our very nice local Councillor, but they did the same leaflet addressed to Bob and I which seems a bit daft.

Anna, by the way, on reading the accompanying letter, came running through last night saying "Mummy, I've found something sensible in an SNP leaflet." She meant the line "If you are inclined to vote Labour, then I would urge you to think again."