A pro-family, pro-responsibility agenda will be central to the Conservative aim to downsize the State, Tory leader David Cameron has said.
In a speech on Tuesday, Mr Cameron said that the size and role of the State had “reached a point where it is now inhibiting, not advancing the progressive aims of reducing poverty, fighting inequality, and increasing general well-being”.
Focusing on the role of the welfare state in particular, he said that its expansion had begun to weaken the incentives for people to work, and for families to stay together.
The benefit system, he added, “was weighted to help single parents the most, but by encouraging parents to live apart it denies children a stable family home”.
As the state continued to expand, Mr Cameron said, “it took away from people more and more things that they should and could be doing for themselves, their families and their neighbours”.
“Human kindness, generosity and imagination are steadily being squeezed out by the work of the state. The result is that today, the character of our society – and indeed the character of some people themselves, as actors in society, is changing,” he continued.
Instead of squeezing out civil society and the community by taking on more and more responsibility, the State, he insisted “must help families, individuals, charities and communities come together to solve problems”.
Mr Cameron outlined an agenda to shrink the role of the State in terms of poverty reduction.
In particular, he said the Conservatives had “plans to end the couple penalty in the tax credits system by increasing working tax credits for couples who stay together”.
He added: “As we end the couple penalty, there will be an immediate benefit – the poorest couples with children will gain, on average, £1500 a year, lifting up to 300,000 children out of poverty.
“By incentivising responsible behaviour, the state sends an important signal about families staying together so more children have a better start in life.
“It is a clear example of our aggressively pro-family, pro-commitment, pro-responsibility approach.”
