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Family Policy

I agree wholeheartedly with the hon. Lady. Sometimes, when relationships have fallen down, anger comes to the fore. I feel mediation provides a method for focus, strategy and drive in the direction that she has mentioned. That would be good. It is much better in every case to have mediation rather than battles in court—or out of court, and battles everywhere else. I would like to see mediation from that point of view as well. Mr Justice Coleridge of the Family Division has said that"““almost all of society's…ills can be traced directly to the collapse of the family life””." The judge deals with such problems each and every day, and he has knowledge and experience of family breakdowns. He also referred to a"““never ending carnival of human misery.””" We have to move on from that. We need more commitment from people outside the marriage to make the marital relationship work. We need a commitment to young families, to children and to doing the things that are important. We all have to work at it. We cannot say, ““It's great to do that.”” We have to work at it and try to make it happen. We need tax breaks from the coalition Government and an indication of how they might work. We also need mediation. If we have that, there is a chance of people holding on to their relationships, which will ensure that families and children are helped. Again, I congratulate the hon. Member for Erewash on introducing the debate. It is a good and timely debate, especially as the whole nation is thinking about that special marriage last Friday.