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<p>The Government carried out a consultation on the future of civil partnerships in
2014. Views were invited on three options: abolishing civil partnerships; phasing
them out; or extending them to opposite sex couples.</p><p>The review found that there
was no clear consensus on the future of civil partnerships. A majority of respondents
to the consultation were against extending civil partnerships to opposite sex couples
and several significant stakeholders thought it was too soon to consider making changes
to civil partnerships until the impact of extending marriage to same sex couples is
known. Given the lack of any consensus, the government did not change the Civil Partnership
Act 2004.</p><p>The decision not to change the law was judicially reviewed last year
and the Government won in the High Court. The Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal
against the High Court judgment this week and confirmed that the Government’s approach
is lawful.</p><p>We welcome the Court’s ruling. Before we take any action on this
issue, it is right that we evaluate the impact that same sex marriage has on the take-up
of civil partnerships. We will also carefully consider this judgment and its implications
before deciding on our next steps.</p>
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