Britain debates value of marriage
Conservatives argued that strengthening the institution would reduce social breakdown, which costs £102 ($208) billion yearly. They proposed new tax incentives.
By Mark Rice-Oxley
Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
NORTHAMPTON, England

July 16, 2007--As nuptials go, it was like something from Four Weddings and a Funeral. Bridesmaids dithered demurely, kids shrieked on a bouncy castle, conversation burbled and, later on, the groom crooned and people danced badly to "Play that funky music."

Britons love a good wedding, as illustrated by the 1994 comedy. But it's a different story when it comes to marriage, an institution that – as in other countries – has been tarnished by a generation of divorce, apathy, and shifting values. In 2005, fewer Britons got married than in any year on record.

Now however there is a stirring debate as to whether the state should do more to encourage people to get married and stay wed. Opposition Conservative leader David Cameron often repeats the message: children do better in families with married parents; troubled kids tend to come from broken homes; And yet, he regrets, the state does nothing to encourage people into marital ways. The last tax benefits for married couples disappeared under the Labor Party seven years ago. the rest