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Wednesday, 10, Oct 2007 12:00

The report of the Office for National Statistics, ‘Focus on families’ [4th October 2007] is summarised by The Times as, “A longer life and in better health - marriage really is good for you” [5th October 2007].

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article2592302.ece

“Marriage may be out of fashion but it still confers considerable benefits to adults and children, according to a comprehensive study on the state of the family.

The Office for National Statistics has published definitive proof that married couples live longer, enjoy better health and can rely on more home care in old age than their divorced, widowed, single and cohabiting peers. Children who live with their married parents are also healthier, and can expect to stay in full-time education for longer, whatever their economic background.

It has always been thought that marriage had a positive effect on health, but the findings are the most solid evidence yet that, despite rapidly changing social attitudes and an end to the stigma of divorce and lone-parenting, marriage is still good for you.”

With evidence like this it might be thought that the Labour government would back the institution of marriage, but – far from it – it continues to undermine it, ignore or bury evidence that supports its value, and demonises the groups which do try to uphold it.

“Mike Murphy, Professor of Demography at the London School of Economics and one of the authors of the report, said he had expected that society’s greater acceptance of divorce and single-parenthood would have eroded the benefits of marriage, on health in particular, but this did not appear to be so.

“The evidence of both mortality and morbidity data suggest the link between health and the family remain strong,” Professor Murphy said.

“Some of the benefits of marriage can be explained by wealth, as the marriage rate is higher in higher socio-economic groups. But all the evidence shows that there is something in marriage itself that is a benefit.”

Let’s have that again, “But all the evidence shows that there is something in marriage itself that is a benefit”.

New Labour prided itself on evidence based decisions. But in reality it is ruled by dogma that defies any evidence it does not like.

But what of the Conservatives? The Times article by Rosemary Bennett its Social Affairs Correspondent continues:

“Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader who heads the party’s Commission for Social Justice, said that the ONS study confirmed his findings. “In the two reports we have published we have noted that marriage confers enormous benefits on adults and children. There is a higher rate of break-up among cohabiting couples with young children compared to their married equivalents, and higher rates of crime, drug abuse and debt are strongly lined to family breakdown,” he said.

“The decline of marriage is a difficult social trend to reverse. It would be too simplistic to argue that a tax break will reverse this trend and we have made 29 recommendations on the subject, including more education on how to sustain relationships.”

And how many Conservative controlled local authorities are starting to implement the 29 recommendations for more education on how to sustain relationships?

Yes, it’s a big fat zero.