Divorce reform prized the wishes of adults over the needs of children. Studies that indicate children benefit from an intact family—unless abuse is involved—were ignored in favour of making marriage easier to walk away from.
For too long, family policy in Britain has been fragmented across different government departments without a clear, joined-up strategy.
The Parent-Infant Foundation is asking for something simple. We want individual politicians of every party to commit to #SpeakUpForBabies during the campaign.
With the need to close the ‘birth gap’ both a matter of individual flourishing and economic prudence, this is prime policy territory for a Conservative Party that wants to show it’s serious about the UK’s future.
Building on the momentum created by existing policy, and learning lessons from overseas, can deliver a significant boost to British family policy – without breaking the bank.
This is a chance for MPs to eschew ideological pressures and do the right thing. British women and their babies deserve far better than decriminalisation.
Governments need not be morally or religiously prescriptive in promoting marriage. Instead, it should be acknowledged empirically that the institution tends to benefit people.
That would be a profound change in this country’s attitude towards children and family life. One can argue the case for or against it – but that argument doesn’t really seem to be what’s informing ministers thinking.
People are having fewer children than they want: 80 per cent of British women of childbearing age want at least two children, with an average number of desired children of 2.35 per woman – far above the current total fertility rate of 1.49.
They bear all the hallmarks of irresponsible activism, intent on pushing the expansion of abortion at all costs regardless of the real-world impact.
If someone doesn’t have a smartphone at all, with WhatsApp and other speedy communication apps, then they are effectively shut out of a whole world of conversations, gatherings, parties, and gossip.
The Education Secretary says that the steps the government have already taken towards improving online safety “have yet to be seen by parents”.
Instead of merely clarifying points of confusion, the ALP proposes to seriously row back on reforms, passed with cross-party support in 2006, that aimed to reduce systemic bias against fathers.
Raising children is the greatest investment in the future anyone can make – not just for themselves, but for the country. It’s time we had a government that recognised that.