The Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales has responded to the Law Commission's proposals on cohabitation with a call to the Government to protect the sanctity of marriage.

The Law Commission, an independent body that advises the Government on legal reforms, said on Tuesday that cohabiting couples should not be entitled to the same rights as married couples although couples with children or those who have lived together for a longer period of time should have some legal protection.

The proposals aim in part to clarify the financial responsibilities in the event of an unmarried couple splitting, particularly where children could be disadvantaged.

It stressed, however, that the legal safeguards for cohabiting couples would not equate to the rights of married couples or civil partners, and that the measures would not undermine marriage.

"Many people think that cohabitants should have access to exactly the same remedies as married couples and civil partners. We do not agree," said the Commission in a report.

The Bishops' Conference has responded to the Law Commission's report by urging the Government to consider the proposals in light of "the duty of the state to promote, uphold and safeguard marriage as the basis of family life, the best and most stable environment for bringing up children".

Bishop John Hine, Auxiliary Bishop of Southwark and Chair of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales Marriage and Family Life Committee, welcomed the Law Commission's efforts to devise a scheme that puts the interests of the child uppermost.

"The welfare of any children of the cohabitation is rightly to the fore in this proposed scheme, but it is not clear why the Law Commission have recommended that the couple should only be eligible when they had cohabited for a certain number of years (the number not being specified yet)," he said.

Bishop Hine went on to reaffirm the "rightness of marriage as the basis of the family".

"We believe that being happily married is something that the majority of young people today still aspire to, and it is vital to the common good of our society that we create and sustain a legal framework that supports and encourages them in this aspiration," he said.

There are currently more than two million unmarried couples living together in England and Wales, according to the last census in 2001.

If the Government decides to introduce the Law Commission's proposals throughout England and Wales, it will be following in the footsteps of Scotland which already has a system in place for unmarried couples.