Marriage rates lowest since 1862
FEWER people are getting married than at any time in more than 100 years.
Just 231,450 couples wed in England and Wales in 2007 – the lowest total since 1895. And Labour’s tax and benefits system is being blamed.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics yesterday also show marriage rates have fallen to their lowest level since records began in 1862.
In 2007 there were 21.6 men marrying per 1,000 unmarried males aged 16 and over, down from 23 in 2006.
The rate for females in 2007 was 19.7 marrying per 1,000 unmarried women, down from 20.7. Pro-family campaigners attacked the Government for, they say, penalising married couples.
Since 1997 Labour has stripped away all tax breaks for them, brought in new benefits that help single mothers, and tried to remove all reference to the word marriage from state documents and offices.
Robert Whelan, of the independent think-tank Civitas, said: “The decline of marriage is very worrying because marriage is the glue that holds the social fabric together.
"Fewer marriages mean fewer couples committed to looking after each other and their children.”
Michael Trend, executive director of the Relationships Foundation, said: “Couples who do not marry are far more likely to split up, and though lone parents and their children bear the brunt of the costs of breakdown, taxpayers foot much of the financial bill and therefore the Government must take support for relationships more seriously.”
A recent report claimed three-quarters of ordinary families are better off living apart under Labour’s benefits and tax credits system.
A typical couple on a low or middle income would be £69 a week better off if they lived apart, the report found.
The research, carried out for the Christian campaigning charity Care, also found that each couple who choose to live apart cost the taxpayers an extra £7,732 a year.
Dr Daniel Boucher, of Care, said: “Neither the tax nor the tax credit system supports marriage, in fact quite the reverse. It is almost unique in failing to recognise marriage and the responsibilities it brings.”
