Marriage - the next political 'hot potato'

He was turfed out of the leadership by his own MPs without even being given the opportunity to fight a general election, and it had appeared the short and unlamented era of IDS was long over. Last week, though, the self-styled "quiet man" produced a minor earthquake in British politics. The colossal report from Iain Duncan Smith's Social Justice Commission arrived with 190 recommendations for addressing the problems of social decay: high crime rates, low aspirations, low educational attainment and high dependency on the state.

Central among those recommendations is the idea that the tax and benefits system should be changed to provide incentives for couples to get, and stay, married. The former Conservative leader advocates spending £3.2 billion on a transferable tax allowance for married couples which would reward one partner for staying at home and looking after the children. Most other European countries already have such a scheme.

Gordon Brown's reaction was typical. In his Number 10 study, he scribbled on a pad the various categories of families who would not benefit, reading them out to aides as he wrote: "married couples where both partners work … single parents … widows … long-term couples who have not married … divorcees … women who have been deserted by their partner … elderly couples on the state pension … " Rather than supporting marriage, Labour plans to fight the next election on its familiar territory of means-tested benefits and tax breaks aimed at families with children. "Basically, when we draw up a policy we will ask: 'Does this benefit all kids?' " a senior Labour MP said. "If it doesn't, we won't do it." Read more