There are signs of increasing interest in restoring marriage and family in British politics as evidence mounts that the traditional model is best for children and society, and a declining birthrate threatens more problems in the future.
The Centre for Social Justice made a clear case for societies to return to valuing marriage in a recently published interview with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) described below, which had offered a number of family-friendly policies in its last election manifesto.
There are a few signs of a trend back to more traditional values in the mainstream, too. Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak began to talk more positively about the family ahead of last year’s election, though his Conservative Party has a troubled history with “family values”.
Meanwhile at last week’s Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) Conference, as well as hearing a clear message that our societies need faith in Christ to be renewed, the influential delegates also heard speakers promoting family values, fatherhood and the importance of caring for children at home rather than in nurseries.
“The individuals who come together to constitute society have to sacrifice their narrow pleasure seeking individuality demanding gratification in the moment,” said psychologist Jordan Peterson at ARC, which he co-founded. “For the sake of their mutual reciprocal relationships with others locally, first in marriage, in family, in town, in city, expanding to province and state and country nested all under the auspices, let's say, of the Divine.”
Just before ARC, the SDP published a video titled: “We need to prioritise the family” on YouTube that featured a conversation between party leader William Clouston and the head of policy at the Centre for Social Justice, Ed Davies. “The family is the foundation of society, a truth that any sensible society should put at the heart of policymaking,” began Clouston, in a wide ranging discussion on the causes, effects and possible solutions to the rapid decline in marriage.
The SDP is not a major force in British politics at present, although its stance of being more left wing on the economy and more right wing on social issues is arguably more in line with the views of the population than the mainstream political parties. However its policies are influential – especially on Reform, the party on the right that is closest to power, according to opinion polls. The latter has recently adopted the slogan “Family, community, country,” which is similar to the SDP’s own.
One reason the topic is discussed more is the damaging effects of the declining birth rate, which Christians have long warned about. Others are the awareness that our decline in marriage is so rapid; and that there is now good scientific evidence that this harms children.
“Fifty years ago a 16-year-old sitting their O levels ... had a 90% chance of living with their mum and dad - today for a child sitting their GCSEs this summer it will be about 50:50,” said Davies in the video. “It's incredible how quickly that's happened.”
He pointed out that most children are now born to parents who are not married. Davies cited the The Institute for Fiscal Studies who found that the UK is second only to the US in developed nations in having the “most fragile and complex family structures.”
The decline in marriage has mostly affected poorer families. The CSJ studied the Family Resources survey found that children in the top 20% income bracket had an 85% chance of having married parents, but in the bottom 20% only 19% had married parents.
It is not always easy to compare ‘like with like’ in social issues, and this particular subject is complicated by the fact that lone parenthood leads to lower income and lower incomes lead to lone parenthood. But the CSJ found that there were big differences in the marriage stability in different ethnic groups that also seemed to correlate with children’s educational progress.
Other outcomes that are better in two parent families include crime and mental health.
“Pretty much any outcome you can think of, in terms of social policy, you are looking at an advantage to being raised by your mum and dad in a committed relationship,” said Davies.
He was clear that two parent families are beneficial to children and society: “Of course,” he said. “I get that it's hard to talk about, but the evidence at a population level particularly is absolutely clear on this, that actually being raised by your mum and dad gives you the best start in life.”
Davies acknowledged that the reason politicians are reluctant to talk about the importance of marriage is that it might offend those who are not married or who have divorced.
“I think the reason we don't like to talk about it is because it is personal and it's sensitive,” he said. “I really understand why people are reticent, and in some ways particularly for politicians, you're trying to get the votes, you don't want to alienate people. People are scared of stigmatizing [single parents].
“But I think we're in this position now where it is so widespread and normalized to put children in this position that we have to start looking at this through a child-centric lens.”
The cultural causes of the decline in marriage are complicated and varied. Davies said the real concern for him is that “we have stopped valuing the act of commitment, the marriage, in the first place”.
Clouston cited societal change such as women in the workplace and individualism as causes: “It's a completely different world... [Before] you would not put yourself first, maybe you'd have duty to other people and maybe sacrifice a few things.”
While a commonly cited cause of the decline in marriage is the rising cost of housing, he said that a more important factor is not finding a person to marry.
The decline in Christianity was also discussed, although only its peripheral effects rather than the influence of genuine faith. “I don't see it coming back very quickly,” said Clouston. “I urge people to attend church whether they believe or not, because it's the belonging, not the belief necessarily.”
The pair discussed possible policies that might help to reverse the decline in marriage and family, such as the state paying for pre-marriage counselling, and the sharing of tax allowances and benefits between a couple. Another policy discussed was “front loading” child benefit so that more is paid when the child is young.
However Clouston advocates for being willing to talk about the benefits of marriage and to work to change the culture: “Outcomes for children as a society are better in married traditional families, that is true, and [you’ve] also got to say that ‘lads need dads’ and be honest about it, and not flinch from it. And then if we could change the status of motherhood and fatherhood I think we'd be really onto something.”
Davies also touched on the issue of childcare: “We are now moving as an entire Western world into more and more child care at a younger age without ever asking if it's in the children's interest,” he said. “And so we are going down this road further and further that undermines the family.”
Heather Tomlinson is a freelance Christian writer. Find more of her work at https://heathertomlinson.substack.com or via X (twitter) @heathertomli
