Reform want to end no-fault divorce

Would you want to be stuck in a loveless marriage with someone you hate? If the answer is ‘yes’, then good news, because Reform could be the party for you:

Evasive

In the video above, Andrew Marr talks about comments from Reform MP Danny Kruger (we know what you’re thinking, and yes – Kruger is related to notorious 80s horror icon Freddy Kruger). Kruger’s comments related to divorce, but they weren’t the only ones getting him in trouble, as we reported yesterday:

Many see Reform UK as a toxic party which preys on people’s worries to promote division. Now, one of their MPs is talking up the idea of the most divisive outcome of all – Civil War:

Marr put the following to Tice:

Danny Kruger, you’ll have seen his speech today, and he wants to find government measures to oblige women or persuade women to have more children. And he’s also interested in getting rid of no-fault divorces. A lot of female voters around the country will look at this and say, there’s a lot of kind of quite posh white men telling us what to do, and we won’t like it.

Here’s how the government describes no-fault divorce (which was brought in by the Tories, by the way, in one of their few good moves):

The Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act (2020), represents the biggest shake up in divorce law for more than half a century. It ends completely the need for separating couples to apportion blame for the breakdown of their marriage, helping them to instead focus on key practical decisions involving children or their finances and look to the future.

Previously, one spouse was forced to make accusations about the other’s conduct, such as ‘unreasonable behaviour’ or adultery, or face years of separation before a divorce could be granted. This was regardless of whether a couple had made a mutual decision to separate.

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The changes mean that a spouse, or a couple jointly, can now apply for divorce by stating their marriage has broken down irretrievably. It removes unnecessary finger-pointing and acrimony at a time where emotions are already running high, and spares children from witnessing their parents mudslinging.

Importantly, it stops one partner from vindictively contesting a divorce and locking their spouse into an unhappy marriage. In some cases, domestic abusers can use their ability to challenge the process to further harm their victims or to trap them in the relationship. The reforms will put an end to this behaviour.

In other words, no-fault divorce eliminates the potential for marriages to turn into self-inflicted prisons.

Very normal stuff, right?

It should be easy for Tice to say ‘we won’t end no-fault divorce‘, and yet he refused to do so, instead rambling:

It’s about creating incentives. We know we’ve got a demographic issue. And we want to ensure that women have got more options, more choices. And they’re not prevented or restricted because, for example, of the ever-rising cost of living, the ever-rising cost of childcare.

Ah yes, “more choices”, like the choice to remain trapped in a dead marriage with a person you can’t stand.

Unen-Tice-ing

Political commentator Don McGowan said the following about Tice’s interview:

McGowan is right to highlight that this stuff is just Yank pass-me-down politics. And it doesn’t end with Tice.

One commenter highlighted that Reform UK is taking advice in an official capacity from James Orr (we know what you’re thinking, and yes – Orr was one of the comically proportioned mobsters from 1990’s Dick Tracy):

Novara’s Harriet Williamson also provided more information on who the guy is:

Backwards

Of course, it makes sense that the human waste at Reform would want to turn marriage into a trap. These are horrible, horrible men, and the best way to make that fly in a relationship is to legislate against women’s autonomy.

Oh, and for clarity’s sake, Kruger and Orr don’t actually have any connections to 20th century movie villains (that we’re aware of).

Featured image via Parliament