Sir Edward slams ‘radical’ divorce bill

Speaking in the Commons, the Conservative MP criticised the government for its ‘radical’ approach and ‘extreme liberal agenda’.

Sir Edward said: “Why do we always think that we have to adopt an extreme liberal agenda?

“This Bill is part of a liberal agenda, because it is saying that we can remove the ultimate pain by making things easier, but that simply does not happen very often in life.

“We could have brought in a moderate measure. No one has to allege fault under our present law.

“But no, we are rushing this through. We are saying that people can get their divorce after six months.

“The message we are sending out is that we are engaged in making quickie divorces easier, and I am not sure that that is the right message for us to be sending out, particularly at this time of family stress during lockdown.

“If we bring in compulsory no-fault divorce in a six-month time frame, the result will be more divorces.

“We already have one of the highest levels of family breakdown in the world, and now, rather than putting more money into supporting marriage and sending a message that we support marriage, we are sending a message that we want to make divorce even easier.

“The result of this Bill will be more pain, more suffering, children seeing less of - usually - their fathers and more women propelled into poverty. Is this really what we want to achieve?

“But no, the secretary of state is ploughing ahead with the most extreme and most radical measure he could dream 
of.

“This is one of the most radical and most extreme divorce laws in the whole of the European continent. Why are we doing this now?

“Why are we not prepared to compromise? Why are we not prepared to give an unequivocal message that we believe in marriage and will support it to the hilt?”