Governments have been too “squeamish” about standing up for the family, the UK Children’s Commissioner has said, as she called on the next Prime Minister to do more to support couples to stay together.

Dame Rachel de Souza told The Telegraph that data she had collected showed that stable families had a great “protective” effect, making children happier and more successful.

She urged the new prime minister and opposition leaders to commit to harnessing what she calls the “most powerful foundation for the future”: a strong, positive family dynamic that offers those within it “universal values and provable protections”.

Her independent family review, published on Thursday morning, finds that 23 per cent of children live in lone parent households – almost twice the European average of 13 per cent; while 44 per cent of children do not spend their entire childhood living with both their biological parents.

It concludes that children in stable families do better at GCSE – and finds that children who get on well with both their parents will earn more by the time they reach the age of 25.

And it cites data showing that families who spend time with each other, such as regularly eating dinner together, tend to be happier.