The First Reading of the bill occurred on Tuesday evening. The Second Reading is scheduled for Monday, 3 June. Subsequent committee hearings are scheduled for 17 and 19 June.
The revised text of the bill as it left the House of Commons is now here, as a PDF. And the revised explanatory notes are another PDF, here.
The Hansard record of the House of Commons Third Reading debate is here.
I hope it passes the first hurdle on the 3rd, we can’t assume Lord Dear’s “fatal motion” will fail.
I’ve been told by several bishops that they intend to stop the bill at the second reading despite the convention that bills are firstly not voted on at the second reading and secondly they don’t vote against a bill with such a large majority in the commons.
The eyes will be on the bishops and many will ask once again why there is a need for 26 bishops in the HoL.
Dear Lord, don’t let Lord Dear carry the day. We will have enough of a problem with the Church of
England Bishops (en bloc?) trying to prevent anyone from accessing the privilege of legal monogamous marriage relationship – even though (the bishops) they cannot speak for the whole of society – let alone the Church of England mainstream membership.