Money Can't Buy Love

New research this week from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has suggested that the link between marriage and family stability isn't so strong. It had previously been thought that marriage encouraged stable families and prevented children from seeing their parents separate. The IFS have now disputed this claim, finding no tangible link between familial stability and marriage.

According to the IFS, married parents are more likely to stay together for other reasons than the very fact of their marriage. Married parents are often older, wealthier and better able to deal with the pressures of bringing up a family. The actual institution of marriage does nothing to prevent family breakdown.

These new findings seriously undermine conservative arguments that marriage should be recognised in the tax system. For years the Conservative Party have been making the case for marriage tax breaks by pointing to the link with stable families. Now that this logic has been challenged, any potential reforms must surely be shelved.

This is particularly necessary given the damage that a marriage tax break would do to the public finances. Conservative plans to give married couples £3 a week would create another billion pound hole that the UK can ill afford. The Government should think twice before making what would be a costly mistake.