Watch my speech calling for humanist marriages to be made legally binding

In September 2011, I had a humanist wedding, and we chose a beautiful setting in the countryside and got married in the carpentry workshop where my husband had worked for many years.

But it wasn’t where we legally got married. If we lived in Scotland or Northern Ireland, then it might have been. But in England, it couldn’t.

And that’s because humanist marriage ceremonies are still not legally binding in England.

The 1200 couples a year who have humanist weddings should have the same opportunity to marry in line with their beliefs as their religious counterparts.

Allowing people to have such a ceremony recognised in law is well past time; this week, I called for just that.