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Marriage 'key to better society'
Cameron backs Tory report that blames family breakdown for poverty and Britain's social ills Simon McGee Political Editor MARRIAGE should be put at the heart of efforts to tackle the complex web of family breakdown and poverty afflicting a "growing underclass" in Britain, according to a new report from the Conservatives.
The crippling impact of personal debt, drink and drug dependency, teenage pregnancies and educational underachievement on society's poorest are among the problems highlighted in a study published yesterday by a Tory policy commission, chaired by former party leader Iain Duncan Smith.
Launching the Breakdown Britain report in central London, Mr Duncan Smith said some of the issues he had raised might cause colleagues in his party to "swallow hard", but they would also realise they needed addressing.
The decline of marriage and increase of cohabitation was identified by the policy group as a key contributor to "family breakdown", itself responsible for a variety of ills.
"The ongoing rise in family breakdown affecting young children has been driven by the dissolution of cohabiting partnerships," the report stated.
"The majority of these are less stable than marriage being more than twice as likely to break up."
The commission called for a "radical appraisal" of marriage policy and for politicians "to grasp the nettle of family breakdown by being clear about the benefits of marriage and committed relationships, and the merits of supporting and encouraging them".
They added: "We have concluded on the basis of the extensive evidence that both family structure and family process matter.
"The statistics indicate that marriages are far more likely to provide a stable environment for adults and children than cohabitation and are more resilient when the family is facing a crisis or stressful life event such as childbearing."
The interim report, endorsed by Conservative leader David Cameron as "powerful and convincing", describes five "pathways to poverty" – family breakdown, educational failure, economic dependence, indebtedness and addictions and paints a bleak picture of a society which is "breaking down on the margins".
The policy group is expected to propose specific policies next year.
Mr Duncan Smith insisted yesterday that Britons should be "ashamed" of some parts of country.
He said: "For some time I have been concerned about our reluctance as a nation to ask why the world's fourth largest economy continues to have ever greater demands placed upon its social support system, the welfare state, during a period of unprecedented prosperity."
Mr Duncan Smith said: "As this report shows, children from a broken home are twice as likely to have behavioural problems, perform worse at school, become sexually active at a younger age, suffer depression and turn to drugs, smoking and heavy drinking."
Labour's Social Exclusion Minister Pat McFadden insisted last night that the Tories were hypocritical, having opposed measures to tackle poverty such as the minimum wage, maternity leave and flexible working.
"The truth is that, despite all of today's rhetoric, the Tories are not offering one concrete policy proposal to help and support Britain's hard-working families and to eradicate poverty," he said.
"It is Labour that is taking action to support families, as last week's announcement to extend child benefit entitlement to mothers-to-be demonstrates. That's just one example of how a real policy is better than thousands of warm words."
Lib Dem social exclusion spokesman Matthew Taylor added: "Simply wishing for more families to stay together achieves nothing, whilst penalising the children of broken families would just make social exclusion and relative poverty even worse.
"The Conservatives' document is high on moral tone but offers nothing to help real families in Britain today."
FAMILY BREAKDOWN
High rates of teenage pregnancy and the "breakdown of nurture" are among key factors identified in the report which lead to an "intergenerational transmission" of family breakdown.
"Girls who come from fatherless or broken homes and whose mothers gave birth in their teens are greatly overrepresented in teen pregnancy statistics... and will typically be subject to ongoing financial difficulties throughout the lifecycle.
"Furthermore, family breakdown in the form of abuse, neglect or insufficient nurture creates a cycle of psychological distress in which 'damaged' individuals go on to create more dysfunctional families which are then subject to further breakdown." The report adds there is now an increasing number of families that cannot offer certain "core needs" to their offspring like protection, self-control, and freedom to express valid emotions.
EDUCATIONAL FAILURE
Absent fathers – or "dadlessness" – is highlighted as a major cause, among other things, of educational underachievement.
The report says: "The absence of a constructive male figure in their lives at home is compounded for many boys in early schooling, as fewer primary school-age children ever encounter a male teacher at school. Instead, their role model is too often a transient father who is unsupportive."
Drug and drink addition is another problem framed by the report in the context of its impact on schooling. The report adds: "These depressing trends form an interlinking pattern, with evidence demonstrating the effect drug taking and drinking have on truancy figures, including crimes committed by truants while absent."
INDEBTEDNESS
"Personal debt is the most serious social problem affecting the UK," the report concludes.
And it is almost impossible for people on low incomes to pay off their debts because of "appallingly high levels of interest they routinely pay on their loans".
The commission makes clear it believes there has been "excessive complacency" about the impact of debt on society. "The gravity of the debt problem may have been underestimated," states the report.
"Although a survey for the Bank of England shows that some 3.7m people suffer bad debt, our own polling indicates that over 7m people have suffered bad debt; if the children of the affected families are included it could be as high as 9m. People on low incomes are subject to higher interest charges on loans than anyone else. Rates in excess of 100 per cent are common from bona fide companies, with loan sharks charging much more."
ADDICTIONS
Nearly three million adults have some form of alcohol dependency and more than a million children are living in homes with alcoholics, the report says.
There are also reckoned to be 1.6 million adult cannabis dependents and 360,000 Class A or "highly problematic" drug users.
The combined effects of drinking and drug-taking are "historically unprecedented", states the report, and have led young adults to engage in "a new culture of intoxication".
"Behind these drugs and alcohol headlines is the emergence and growth of a range of addictive behaviours and practices.
"Self-harm and cutting, virtually unheard of ten years ago, are on the rise. Gambling is a national addiction."
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