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I now declare you Man & Wife, you may kiss the Taxman.
Posted by Tracey Cheetham (@tchee)
Thursday, 21st January 2010
The battle lines for the forthcoming General Election are being clearly drawn with Labour launching their policy plans regarding the family. This is one concept that the Conservatives have really gone to town on and tried to make their own. In the process they have continued to assert that, at least partly because of the breakdown of the “traditional family”, Britain has become a broken nation.
The reason that I am using quotation marks when I mention the Conservative idea of “family” is because the image they portray, is at odds with what family means to a huge number of people in the UK today. The Conservatives hark back to halcyon days, where every Summer was warm, there was always snow at Christmas and Mummy and Daddy would take little David on holidays to the seaside. They would paddle, build sand-castles and drink lashings and lashings of Ginger Beer. But like the Enid Blyton fantasy that describes, the truth was often very different.
The Second World War changed family life forever. The lengthy periods of separation created marriages that were scarred by conflict, adultery and people who barely knew one another. The done thing back then, was to stick it out and in order to encourage this, divorce was not an easy option, only being permitted in the event of fault, cruelty or adultery. This lead to so many people being unhappy and alone whilst seemingly within the confines of a loving family unit. That is what the Conservatives are trying to encourage again. Stay together for the sake of the children, you loved one another once, grin and bear it or stay married for the sake of a few extra pounds in tax allowance.
The Green Paper unveiled by Ed Balls MP, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, has a much more balanced approach. Entitled ‘Support for All – the Families and Relationships Green Paper’ has a 'whole family' approach. Support for All (not just the marrieds) is an important step in recognising that a family is about more than a certificate that shows you had a nice party and spent a lot of money on frocks and fru fru! (Believe me, I speak from experience – twice!)
This approach sets out clearly the Government's commitment to supporting all families, no matter what their constitution. While announcing this important initiative, Mr Balls recognised the diverse nature of the family today, “Families come in all shapes and sizes these days and the evidence is clear that stable and loving relationships between parents and with their children are vital for their progress and well-being.”
The measures announced will help couples to prevent and resolve marriage and relationship breakdown whilst also offering support and recognition to Dads who need it and Grandparents – with so many parents having no choice but to work, the role of Grandparents has become increasingly important. In addition to this, working parents will also benefit from improvements to flexible working.
Providing assistance and support for those couples who genuinely want to stay together but have problems is a key part of this initiative. It doesn't matter if the couple is married, co-habiting or in a civil-partnership, enabling the people who choose to stay together to obtain the help they need to do so, on an emotional and practical level is far better for everyone involved. Yet, the Tories continue to value the idea of marriage above everything else, their policy says that a couple with three children who are married, deserve more than a couple with three children who are not.
Surprisingly, with this being such an important part of the Conservative manifesto, David Willetts, (Shadow Cabinet Member with responsibility for coming up with the policy) still doesn't know what form any Married Couples tax break will take.
So, to put it in simple terms, the Conservatives will do something, but they, and consequently we, do not know what it is yet. What we do know is that the Conservative party has a definite view of what a family SHOULD look like and it involves Mum, Dad and 2.4 children. It is built around the central concept of marriage.
The Labour policy on families is centered on children. This tells me much of what I need to know and an awful lot about the people creating the policy.
