Cameron - Strong relationships will save the UK (Relate).

Speaking at the Welsh Conservative party conference, David Cameron continued to push his call for strong family values and social responsibility. David said the party would:

"End the couple penalty in the benefits system that pays parents to live apart. "We need to reduce family breakdown by reducing the pressures that help cause it. "That's why we'll help families spend more time together."

David is right to promote strong families through the tax system, but can't the government do more than that?

We have all seen statistics that show that most of our society's problems can be traced back to broken homes - the amount of kids who fail in school, the number of drug abusers, the percentage of inmates in our prisons, child abuse, domestic violence - the figures all show that a stable relationships lead to healthier kids and an healthier society. I'm not saying that if you come from a broken home (like me) you are going to be a pox on society - I'm just pointing out that the figures show that it is more likely.

So why don't we help save as many relationships as possible? Why don't we push relationship counselling more? Instead of telling us how to live our lives like the current government does, why don't we give advice as to where to find relationship counselling? The government could support RELATE, a great organisation which is short of funds and even shorter on manpower.

Relate provides relationship counselling (used to be marriage guidance) and operate from 600 locations all over England, Wales and Northern. Unfortunately they have to rely on donations, and you are likely to have to wait for a month for your first appointment. This service should be fully subsidised by the government and it should be free and easily accessible to all couples.

From the Relate website:

Government figures estimate the direct cost to the public purse of relationship breakdown as an estimated £5 billion, including housing costs, benefits and unemployment. Indirect costs, when taking into account poorer outcomes in areas such as children and adult health, have been estimated at £24 billion.

Surely this should be our number one priority when it comes to fixing our broken society. Statistics show that if we can keep more relationships together, then more of our children can expect a better future.