MAKING BRITAIN MORE FAMILY-FRIENDLY

Leading on from David Willett's speech on the family, we have now launched our draft manifesto on the subject.
We can’t go on ignoring the importance of strong families. They provide the stability, warmth and love we need to flourish as human beings, and the relationships they foster are the bedrock on which society is built. The current complacent attitude to commitment has
done untold harm, and the narrow child-centred approach currently pursued ignores the importance of strengthening the relationships between all family members – children, parents, grandparents and the wider family. As a
consequence, Britain is one of the least family-friendly countries in the western world.
This will change with a Conservative government. We
will not be neutral on this. Britain’s families will get our full backing.
Good parenting makes a big difference to our future success or failure
– the warmth of their parenting is as important to a child’s life chances as the wealth of their upbringing. Of course money matters, which is why a Conservative government will help families with their finances.
We also need to help families with all the other pressures they face: lack of time, the impact of work, worries about schools and crime, poor housing. And if we want to give children the best chance in life –whatever background they are from – the right structures need to be in place: strong and secure families, confident and able parents, an ethic of responsibility instilled from a young age.
Together with our focus on reversing educational failure, worklessness, debt and addiction, our support for families will make it much easier for every family to provide an environment in which children can
flourish. Strengthening families will also increase social mobility, and play an important part in helping us work towards our aspiration of ending child poverty by 2020.
Don't be surprised if I refer back to this policy again and again! I feel passionately about giving all our children the best start in life!
Giving children the best start in caring and loving families is not only good for them, but good for society as a whole.

STRENGTHENING FAMILIES

David Willetts, the Shadow Cabinet member for family policy, has today launched the family section of the Conservative Party's Draft Manifesto.
He said "we can’t go on ignoring the importance of strong families". "They provide the stability, warmth and love we need to flourish as human beings, and the relationships they foster are the bedrock on which society is built."
Our outline plans to make Britain more family-friendly by:
• Reforming the tax and benefits system to help families
• Taking a new approach to early intervention
• Helping families to balance their lives
Willetts said that it outlined "a comprehensive approach to encourage stability and tackle social breakdown – a new system of flexible parental leave which lets parents share maternity leave, more health visitors to support new parents, and encouraging commitment by recognising marriage in the tax system".
He added that the Government’s recent green paper - its first on families since 1998 - "fails to confront the big issues" and "does not match the scale of change that is needed to support families and mend Britain’s broken society".
Giving children a better start in life is essential to avoid problems of social delinquency later.
The family (in whatever form) is the best environment for children to be nurtured and raised.
We do the children of this country a dis-service for life if we do not promote the family!