A heterosexual couple will take their fight for a civil partnership to the Supreme Court if the government does not change the law.

Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Keidan, reject traditional marriage on the grounds that it is a ‘sexist’ and ‘patriarchal’ institution, and challenged a ruling that they did not meet the legal requirement of being the same sex for a civil partnership.

The Court of Appeal accepted there was a potential breach of their human rights and said the discrimination against heterosexual couples could not last indefinitely. But, it gave the government more time to review the law.

Meanwhile, lawyers have called for divorce laws to be reformed to end the requirement for the petitioner to prove fault, following the High Court’s refusal to grant permission to a woman to end her 39-year marriage.

Tini Owens asked the Court of Appeal to overturn the ruling of Judge Robin Tolson QC, claiming that her marriage had irretrievably broken down after she had an affair.