WHAT HAPPENED TO EVERY NEW LAW FACING A ‘FAMILY TEST’?

News

Britain’s tight child‑seat regulations may be saving dozens of young lives, yet US data cited by a remarkable piece in The Telegraph indicate they are also discouraging parents from having a third baby. Analysts estimate about 8,000 births were lost in 2017, and potentially 145,000 since 1980, largely because most cars cannot accommodate more than two modern child seats and children must stay in them for longer.

Contrast that with Hungary: Budapest has previously offered subsidies towards seven‑seat family cars and still provides generous tax breaks, housing help and travel discounts for families with three or more children. The result? Thousands more couples feel confident about welcoming baby number three.

Closer to home, the Law Commission proposes that marriage should no longer revoke an existing will – scrapping a centuries‑old safeguard that puts marriage at the centre of inheritance and helped prevent family disputes. There may be good intentions behind this move, to protect people from predatory marriages. But it could also downgrade marital commitment and spark fresh legal battles.

These stories drive home one truth: governments rarely stop to ask how new rules will affect mums, dads and children. Since 2014 every department has been supposed to apply the Government’s Family Test – five simple questions designed to flag up hidden costs or benefits for family life – but too often it is ignored.

C4M exists to champion and promote real marriage as the stabilising bedrock of society. Isn’t it time our Parliamentarians did the same? Your voice strengthens our hand: please share this email and raise these issues with your MP, insisting that every policy and piece of legislation must pass a robust, published Family Test before it reaches the statute book.