Civil partnerships left on the shelf in Shropshire as more choose same-sex marriage

In 2014 and 2015 only one couple agreed a civil partnership in Telford & Wrekin, with none at all last year, according to the figures from the Office for National Statistics.

That compares with 63 civil partnerships in the borough between 2008 and 2013.

Same sex marriage officially passed into law in the early part of 2014, and the ONS said the drop-off in the number of civil partnerships, which is reflected both in wider Shropshire and across the UK, is the direct result of that.

There were six civil partnerships in Shropshire Council's area last year, and 13 the year before. In the preceding five years there were 176.

The numbers also show a fairly even spread between the number of male and female couples entering into the partnerships, which are only legal for same-sex couples.

"Civil partnerships have fallen sharply since the introduction of marriages for same sex couples in March 2014," said ONS spokeswoman Elizabeth McLaren.

There were 861 civil partnerships formed in England and Wales in 2015, a fall of 49 per cent from 1,683 in 2014.

There were no matching figures for the number of couples ending their civil partnerships at local level, but nationally the number of relationships breaking up also saw an increase. There were 1,211 civil partnership dissolutions granted in 2015, a 14 per cent increase compared with 2014.

As civil partnership numbers plummet, more and more people are choosing same-sex marriages.

Celebrity hairdressers Royston Blythe and Nick Malenko, were among the first to get a civil partnership when they were first introduced. The couple, who run salons in Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton, said that while they fully support the idea of gay marriage, they haven't considered changing their current partnership.

Mr Blythe said: "We have a civil partnership, and we really haven't thought about having a same sex marriage. I would do, but it doesn't seem like it would make much difference to us or our lives now. I think it would be something we would have thought about if it was there. I think it gives more rights as well. When I had a civil partnership there was nothing like that."

Some seven years later, when gay marriage was introduced, his husband Nick Malenko said it was a "matter of choice" and gave rights to couples choosing to tie the knot.