The annual number of formalised same sex unions in the UK has dropped by 55% during the past year, but the total since unions were legalised has still outstripped government forecasts. A survey of 40 councils by the Local Government Association and figures from the Office for National Statistics found that following an initial rush to have unions legally recognised after legislation was passed in 2005 and a high of 16,100 in 2006, just 4,600 couples united in the first half of 2007. Gay groups are suggesting that the initial rush for civil unions was created by a 'backlog' of couples who had been denied legalised unions. They speculate that couples may now see formal unions as a kind of "death knell" for relationships or indicative of an unwanted "assimilation" into mainstream cultural norms. When civil unions were introduced by the British government it forecast that anywhere from 11,000 to 22,000 would take place by the year 2010. This range has already been surpassed, with 1950 in late 2005, 16,100 in 2006 and more than 4,600 in early 2007. Ref: Observer