You may think the legalisation of same-sex marriage in 2014 ushered in an age of real equality when it comes to marriage. But in fact, since 2012, thousands of British families have been separated, and will continue to be so until this country’s draconian immigration rules are changed.
It’s thought over 15,000 British children only know one of their parents through Skype because of a rule that separate families based on their income. Not many people know about this rule, but for years it has split families apart and given the lie to the dream of true marriage equality. Introduced in 2012, the Minimum Income Requirement means anyone who earns less than £18,600 a year is barred from building a life here with a partner from outside the EU. So all those on minimum wage – including over 225,000 people employed by the NHS, tens of thousands of care workers and nearly 1,000 of the Home Office’s own staff – are denied the right to love who they choose.
These rules were introduced and promoted by the party that most espouses family values. The coalition government’s Home Office, led by the Conservatives and under the watch of then-home secretary Theresa May, created an unashamedly hostile environment, not just for migrants, refugees and asylum seekers but for British families too. The spectre of immigration, always a convenient fear to play on with the electorate, has infiltrated every nook and cranny of British life.
The rules are labyrinthine. I’ve summarised some of their cruelty – to give chapter and verse would amount to an immigration law textbook. And don’t get me started on the mountain of documentary evidence that has to be compiled – one slip and you’ve had it, with caseworkers seemingly desperate to find (or fabricate) reasons to turn loving couples away.
While the rules are iniquitous for so many families, they inevitably discriminate most against women. 80% of women in part-time work aren’t able to meet the MIR – so in effect, the vast majority of women with childcare or caring responsibilities are being told they don’t have the right to love who they choose.
How has it come to this? The UK has always experienced ebbs and flows of people to and from overseas. To a greater or lesser extent, every family has welcomed new members from outside the UK – just look at our own royal family.
In my own family, I have grandparents, parents, children and other family members who have married people from all over the world. Until 2012 this was all perfectly possible – and this country’s economy, cultural life and, most importantly, my family, were better off for it. The reality of love is that you don’t know who you will meet and when, or where: at work, on holiday, in the pub, at university, and increasingly on the internet. Love knows no borders, nor should it.
In 1959, as my British father was about to marry my mother, an Australian citizen, he was told by the Home Office: ‘The British government would never separate a man and his wife.’ How far we have strayed. In 2019, the reality is that our right to love is based on income.
If you happen to fall in love with someone from the “wrong” country, and you don’t earn what the government considers the “right” amount, your family life will be one of unending uncertainty, separation, and expense. Applications take months to process, and the fees are extortionate – the only winner is the Home Office, which makes nearly a 400% profit on the £1,523 application fee.
Five years ago, the Conservative government under David Cameron was rightly applauded for giving same-sex couples equal status. But the same government introduced a less visible, and equally devastating, inequality. Your family is worth less and your chances of a fulfilled and happy family life seriously undermined if you make the mistake of marrying someone who is not British – and post-Brexit, that includes marrying someone from within Europe, too, if the current government has its way.
As we celebrate five years of same-sex couples’ right to marry, it’s time to recognise the next great inequality: rules that implement a two-tier system based on income. We need a system that allows all British citizens, whomever they marry, the best chance to have a long and happy family life. Family values dictate nothing less.