Labour's cohabitation reforms are set to extend a "marriage-lite" status to unmarried couples who live together for three years or have a child, a move the Centre for Social Justice warns flattens what makes marriage meaningful.
The reforms would mean that after three years of cohabitation, or upon having a child, a partner could gain a legal claim over assets, without the couple having chosen to marry.
Celebrity 'Marriage Summer' contrasts with reform
Claudia Rurlander of the Centre for Social Justice argues the proposals are "pure comedy" and a "legal fudge no one asked for." She notes that 2026 has been dubbed "Marriage Summer" by The Guardian, with celebrities including Ronaldo, Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Dua Lipa and Callum Turner heading to the altar, bringing a combined 1,291,700,000,000 Instagram followers with them.
Rurlander says the reforms flatten the very thing worth celebrating, as the act of choosing to commit, not simply the passing of time or having a child, is what makes marriage meaningful and attractive.
Finland comparison suggests significant impact
The Centre for Social Justice's report, Finnishing Marriage, looks at Finland, which introduced similar cohabitation reforms in 2011. Analysis suggests that if England and Wales had introduced an equivalent reform in 2011, there could have been over 110,000 fewer marriages between 2012 and 2023, with almost 25,000 fewer marriages in 2023 alone.
Rurlander warns that cohabitation reforms risk couples coasting into a marriage-like state without encouraging them to commit at all. She adds that Gen Z are already choosing marriage, scrolling through highlight reels of their favourite footballers, musicians and actors, and that the Government has a ready-made cultural tailwind but is about to fumble it in favour of a legal fudge nobody asked for.
