In a philosophical and old-fashioned speech this morning, David Cameron said that a future Conservative government would intervene to end the “poverty of parenting” in society.
Defended the right of politicians to discuss moral and personal issues, Mr Cameron admitted he could come in for criticism for addressing personal issues.
“People will say, this is really not the business of politicians,” he said.
“But that doesn’t mean we should remain silent on this issue. Politicians are the ones who take taxpayers’ money and write billions of pounds’ worth of cheques.
“We have a responsibility and that means looking at the evidence, recognising that parenting has a massive part to play and doing something about it.”
Mr Cameron said the left had been wrong to suggest economic circumstances are at the root of societal breakdown and criminal behaviour. In fact, it is poor parenting which tends to negatively affect a child’s emotional and social development, he argued.
Speaking to the Demos think-tank he set out his ideas on creating a responsible society, in which he said his government would be willing to break from traditional party policy and show more active and interventionist policies towards family life.
“In the past I think we’ve been guilty of giving the impression that to build a responsible society all you need is freedom for the individual plus strong rule of law from the state. We didn’t talk enough about what happend in between,” he said.
He added: “It’s not just right, it’s essential that we take a view on how responsible character is formed and what government can do to help build it”.
To do this a future Conservative would seek to act by tackling not just material poverty but a new challenge, “to alleviate poverty of parenting in the knowledge that it is the best way to help children escape material poverty”.
“If we want to give children the best chances in life whatever background they are from the right structures need to be in place,” he said.
The Tory leader insisted Labour’s SureStart programme would be retained, but taken back to its original purpose, with a concentration on early intervention.
Rather mischievously, Mr Cameron also made a point of praising Labour rebel Frank Field, whom he said had “drawn the link between family breakdown and more crime, arguing a fundamental principle of the welfare state should be to support families and children”.
The speech marks a return to Mr Cameron’s long-running theme on personal responsibility, a tactic that plays well with the Conservatives’ core supporters.
