Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Bill [HL]

I strongly supported this Bill at Second Reading. I had some worries about the meaning of ““coercion”” but they have now evaporated because there is a much tighter definition of it in the Bill. When I came in, I thought that I would not speak because I did not think that I had any questions to ask, but a couple of things occurred to me during the Minister’s exposition of the Government’s position. First, this may be in the Bill and I have not seen it, but what is the status of someone who is found to have been forced into a legal marriage, not just a religious one? Is there a change of status? Is he or she then rendered single again? What is the status of the marriage relationship after a finding that the person has been forced into marriage? Secondly, if the immigration status—for want of a better way of putting it—of the person who is found to have been forced into marriage is linked to the fact that they are married, where does that leave that person in relation to their legal rights in this country?