Labour MP David Lepper is backing moves in Parliament to give legal backing to partnerships between unmarried couples.
Brighton and Hove City Council recently agreed to follow London in setting up a partnership register both for straight and gay couples but it will not have any legal significance.
Mr Lepper, MP for Brighton Pavilion, would like to see these relationships formalised so that laws applying to married couples, such as inheritance, applied to them.
He said many other countries had similar rules.
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