Breakdown Britain

Conservatives to renew their marriage vows
By Philip Johnston
An attempt to return marriage and family to the centre of public policy-making will be made by Conservatives today as they unveil a nightmare audit of social breakdown in Britain.

A report from the Social Justice Policy Group set up by David Cameron, the party leader, paints a grim picture of an entrenched underclass inhabiting a nether world of crime, drugs, alcohol addiction, spiralling debt and a lack of achievement from which they cannot break free.
Cut off from much of mainstream society, they also "threaten the well-being of middle-class people living in once tranquil neighbourhoods".
The inquiry, chaired by Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, is bound to deepen tensions between traditionalist Tories and the modernisers who recently suggested Tories should adopt a more liberal approach of the sort championed by Polly Toynbee, the social commentator.
However, Mr Cameron was quick to throw his weight behind the report, indicating that family-friendly policies such as a tax breaks for families could form part of the next Tory manifesto.
"It underlines my belief that the family is the most important institution in Britain and that if we are serious about tackling the causes of poverty and social breakdown then we must look at ways of supporting families and also supporting marriage so that couples are encouraged to get together and stay together," he said.
"Families, to me, are not just the basic unit of society, they're the best. They are the ultimate source of our society's strength or weakness. Families matter because almost every social problem that we face comes down to family stability. If marriage rates went up, if divorce rates came down – if more couples stayed together for longer, would our society be better off? My answer is yes. And so I will set a simple test for each and every one of our policies: does it help families?"

Today's report – entitled Breakdown Britain – suggests that 30 years of laissez-faire welfarism has been a disaster for the country and cannot continue. It estimates the cost of family breakdown at more than £20 billion a year. Unless there is a radical reappraisal of Government policy towards marriage and the family, social tensions will grow and communities will fall apart.
The group argues that the removal of any fiscal encouragement for marriage, the introduction of tax credits that make no distinction between cohabiting and married couples and the dependency culture created by an unreformed welfare system have all contributed to the crisis.
Labour has tried to tackle the problem through a welfare system that has pumped more than £15 billion a year in extra benefits mainly into single parent families. It has also established special projects such as the £3 billion Sure Start programmes, to supervise the upbringing of children from broken homes.
Labour has also resorted to the stick by threatening to punish parents who fail to keep their children under control.
However, today's report will suggest this is a sticking plaster over a gaping wound, though detailed recommendations and policy proposals will not be produced by the group until next year. Mindful of previous criticism of Tory attitudes, the report says it is not about stigmatising lone parents.
But it says the evidence is overwhelming that the majority of young offenders come from broken homes and to be tough on the causes of crime, the causes have first to be properly understood.
The report marks the first unapologetic defence of marriage and family since the ill-starred Victorian values crusade during the Thatcher years.
It says the stable family is where the vast majority learn the fundamental skills for life and while policy to support all kinds of families appears laudable, it ignores the fact that the married variety results in better outcomes for both children and adults.
The report states: "We reject the comfortable mantra that policy can or should be wholly morally neutral on the grounds that this is unworkable in practice. Although moralising is to be avoided, committed relationships are essential for the social ecology of the family, the community and the country."
Mr Duncan Smith has spent the past three years since he was ousted as Tory leader studying social breakdown in Britain.
He said yesterday: "In every area life is getting worse. Drug and alcohol abuse, worklessness, family break-up, failed education and debt run through these people's lives like a rough thread, creating a vicious cycle of deprivation. As the welfare society retreats, it leaves growing numbers dependent on the state and as social mobility grinds to a halt, the results are starkly evident."
He added: "The government has spent vast sums on tax credits and benefits to lift those just below the poverty line to just above it. However, the government appears to have forgotten about the most vulnerable. Our report shows that 750,000 more people have incomes below 40 per cent of median income than a decade ago."
Mr Duncan Smith said there was a "fundamental lack of honesty" in the political debate, which recognised the problem but refused to discuss its principal cause – family breakdown.

Comment by me:
At last we have politicians prepared to stand up and be counted on basic family morality. I admit that diagnosis also needs remedies but at least it is a start.

Perhaps Christian leaders can begin to do their clear duty to God and society and start preaching a biblical morality again.

Christian marriage and family life can only be lived in a context of grace but there is a universal morality available in the Bible which should be obvious to all who want to create 'good society'. What about teaching it in our schools and sticking to it in our legal systems?

Of course, we need to think and act compassionately to all who are the victims of the years of leadership failure(political and spiritual) in these fundamental aspects of a healthy society. Our anger needs to be directed into confronting and opposing the many who still seek to lead society astray.