The number of new marriages in Britain has fallen to the lowest level in 111 years, according to new data which emerged last week. Latest figures reveal that the number of marriages has dropped by 30,000 between 2004 and 2005 to a total of just over 244,000.

The figures, compiled by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), suggest that marriage in the UK is in serious decline. Experts believe that the 2005 decline of 10 per cent will get worse if the Government pushes through plans to give cohabiting couples the same legal rights as married couples.

The new figures come as the political debate over marriage hots up. Only today, Prime Minister Tony Blair rejected suggestions by Conservative Party leader David Cameron that family breakdown and fatherlessness was at the root of crime and social exclusion.

The ONS figures show the marriage rate for men was 24.2 per 1,000 unmarried men aged 16 and over, down from 27.8 in 2004, while for women it was 21.6 per 1,000, down from 24.6 a year earlier. The annual rate is also the lowest since records began in 1862.

The ONS data shows civil marriages fell most sharply, by 13 per cent to 160,270, although weddings at new “approved premises”, such as stately homes, rose.

The average age that men and women marry increased to 36.2 years for men and 33.6 years for women — up by three years for both sexes since 1995.

The ONS said that a legal change designed to crack down on “sham marriages” may also have had an impact on the figures.