Tim Loughton MP

Tim Loughton said the Government backed amendments to the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill created “glaring inequalities”. “The particular issue that I was pushing this evening was about extending civil partnerships to opposite sex coupl... Continue to article

Yvette Cooper revealed she would not support Tim Loughton’s amendment calling for civil partnerships to be opened up to opposite-sex couples, and urged MPs instead to get behind Labour’s own amendment. “That [whether Labour will vote for... Continue to article

Tim Loughton claimed Nick Clegg was “patently wrong” to suggest his amendment extending civil partnerships to all was designed to wreck the same-sex marriage bill. “Well he’s just wrong, and patently wrong, because a lot of people from a... Continue to article

Nick Herbert said the Government's proposals for equal marriage would not give same-sex couples full equality under the law. "The problem is that we don’t know what the extent of the demand is because the work hasn’t been done, and I don... Continue to article

Tim Loughton accused the Government of trying to kick the issue of opening up civil partnerships to heterosexual couples into the long grass. The Government has pledged to hold a review of civil partnerships in five years in a bid to fac... Continue to article

Tim Loughton said civil partnerships for heterosexual people needed to be brought about to retain consistency. “The genie is out of the box. The Government has already created [those] two tiers by bringing in gay marriage now on the equi... Continue to article

Tim Loughton said the Conservatives were facing a “credibility problem” rather than a crisis to do with their policies after UKIP’s surge in the polls. “First of all, we shouldn’t panic; secondly we shouldn’t be lurching to the right or ... Continue to article

Tim Loughton insisted the Conservatives were serious about delivering an EU referendum, and warned voting for UKIP made that less likely to happen. “On subjects like Europe, David Cameron – in that announcement in January – went further ... Continue to article

Tim Loughton said the working time directive was "excessive regulation" and was getting in the way of doctors and nurses doing their jobs. "The working time directive is having a very serious impact on the ability of our doctors and our ... Continue to article

Douglas Alexander said the gap between David Cameron and his backbenchers was “unbridgeable”. “The gap between what David Cameron’s backbenchers are demanding and what European leaders will accept I’m afraid, remain unbridgeable. So I ex... Continue to article

Tim Loughton said the Conservatives needed to get their policies in line with public opinion in the wake of the Eastleigh by-election. “This isn’t about lurching to the right or lurching to left. If anything it’s about lurching to the pu... Continue to article