The Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social StructureAlice Reid
In 2011 David Cameron asked “Do we have the determination to confront the slow-motion moral collapse that has taken place in parts of our country these past few generations?” He went on to present a list of examples of the moral collapse he was talking about: “Irresponsibility. Selfishness. Behaving as if your choices have no consequences. Children without fathers.” This focus on a rise in lone parenthood (particularly lone motherhood) as an indicator of the erosion of moral fibre has been a popular refrain over recent decades, particularly among the political right wing, and has often been accompanied by calls to bring back Victorian values. An article in the Telegraph in 2017 focused on the rise in lone parenthood since Britain joined the EU in 1972, and suggested that Brexit was an opportunity to reverse this social decline.