(Bishop Auckland)
(Lab): Thank you, Mr Speaker, for granting this urgent
question. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Rhondda (Chris
Bryant) for so eloquently and passionately putting the case
against this shameful piece of legislation, which turns same-sex
couples into second-class citizens just a year after they had won
their equality through the courts.
Following a year in which Australia and Chile have joined the
march towards marriage equality, this legislation is a
significant step backwards. For that to happen anywhere in the
world would be shameful, but for it to happen in a British
territory—with the legislation signed by a British Governor, and
permitted by a British Foreign Secretary—makes us complicit in
something that this House has repeatedly voted against.
The Government say they are disappointed, that there is a
difficult balancing act to be made between the will of Bermuda’s
Parliament and the views of the British Government and that this
legislation tries to bridge the gap between the two. That is not
really the case: the legislation is in conflict with Bermuda’s
own constitution and Human Rights Act. When it comes to the
rights of British citizens, there should be no such thing as a
balancing act.
On the powers of the Governor to veto this legislation, the
Foreign Office states that,
“British Ministers expect the Governor to observe international
obligations and protect key values.”
The Minister has just said that the law should be in line with
the constitution. How does the Governor’s decision to sign this
legislation square with that expectation of protecting key
values? Surely LGBT equality is a key value. How is it right for
the Governor to sign legislation that overturns the independent
decision of the judiciary, conflicts with the constitution, and
enshrines not integrity but rank inequality into Bermuda’s
administration of justice?
The Minister of State, Department for International
Development (Harriett Baldwin): The hon. Lady is right
to highlight the progress being made around the world on this
issue, and our overseas territories observe different states of
that legislative progress. Five Caribbean territories—Anguilla,
the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Montserrat, and
the Turks and Caicos Islands—currently have no recognition at all
of same-sex unions, and I repeat our disappointment that the Act
in Bermuda removes the right for same-sex couples to marry.
Against that, however, we must balance issues of
self-determination, and having carefully considered those issues,
the Secretary of State decided that in this case it would not be
appropriate to use his powers to block the legislation. Such
powers can be used only where there is a legal or constitutional
basis for doing so, and even then only in exceptional
circumstances. His judgment was that when engaging with the
British overseas territories we must respect the fact that they
are separate, self-governing jurisdictions with their own
democratically elected representatives that have the right to
self-government...
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