Mythbuster: 10 Myths About Gay Marriage Debunked #10

Here’s the final myth of the series.

Myth: The Conservative party has no mandate for this as it was not in their manifesto.

Bust: Technically, this is true – there was no mention of equal marriage in the 2010 Manifesto document. However, it was included in the Conservative Party’s Contract for Equalities, published at the same time, which stated:

We will also consider the case for changing the law to allow civil partnerships to be called and classified as marriage.

So while it is right to say that marriage equality was not an explicit promise the 2010 Manifesto, it was clearly on the Conservative agenda so should not come as a surprise to any Conservative supporter who bothered to read up on what the party was going to do in power.