Up to three in four babies will be born outside of marriage
LABOUR’S record on family policies was laid bare yesterday after it emerged up to three quarters of children will be born out of wedlock in the next five years.
The deterioration of the traditional family exposed the Government’s failure to support married couples in the poorest areas, critics said.
Official figures showed the number of children born to unmarried women was already as high as 69 per cent in deprived parts of Britain, with the figure expected to rise to 75 per cent during the next Parliament.
Nationwide births outside of marriage are around 50 per cent – a sharp rise from 36.7 per cent when Labour came to power in 1997. Experts said illegitimate births were more common in deprived areas where unemployment was high and couples could not afford their own home.
According to the Office for National Statistics, Knowsley on Merseyside has the highest proportion of children born out of wedlock with 68.5 per cent. Hartlepool had 68.1 per cent and Kingston-upon-Hull 67 per cent. The affluent borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London was among the lowest areas for births out of marriage with just 23.6 per cent along with Harrow where about one-in-five children was born to unwed couples or single women.
Anastasia De Waal, of think tank Civitas, said: “We know marriage signifies much more stable circumstances but there are many more children being born out of marriage and this tends to be in deprived areas. This is important and shows a class divide because the betteroff are much more likely to marry.
“The majority of young people want to get married and people have really high expectations of it. People value it so much, they are not prepared to make a commitment to somebody they don’t think is good enough.” Ms De Waal added Tory proposals for tax breaks for married couples to promote family values would not help the unemployed on benefits.
She said: “The most important step now is to make sure people are working. The next Government really needs to push employment and get people off benefits.” The figures showed a regional divide with the North-east as the area with the highest proportion of births outside of marriage, followed by Wales and the North-west.
London had the lowest level with 36 per cent in 2008. Daily Express columnist and former Tory Home Office minister Ann Widdecombe said: “It’s tremendously worrying. Marriage has been devalued, as people don’t respect their wedding vows and so others don’t see the point of it.
"Children do much better growing up with two parents who are married and stably so.”
