The coalition’s marriage troubles

A few months after the coalition was formed, I went for lunch with a close ally of Nick Clegg. After an hour or so of discussing what the coalition’s agenda would be, this Liberal Democrat said to me: ‘now, David Cameron can’t really be serious about this marriage stuff, can he?’ When I replied that I thought he was, he looked at me with total incomprehension. He then launched into a speech about how no ‘liberal’ could possibly want to see the state promote marriage.

This is the thinking that lies behind Clegg’s latest attack on the idea of tax breaks for married couple; it has become an identity issue for the Liberal Democrats. To many of those around Clegg, their opposition to any support for marriage in the tax system reassures them that they have not become Tories.

But this opposition will have real world consequences. Marriage is one of the keystones of our society and it something that the state, for the good of society, should support.