Parents lacking skills - Grayling

Mr Grayling will say parenting skills are disappearing in some areas

Many parents do not know how to bring up children, Conservative frontbencher Chris Grayling has said.

The shadow work and pensions secretary warned in a speech that parenting of the type seen in the TV show Shameless has become the "norm" in many places.

But he said that the Conservative Party should never again be seen as being "at war with lone parents".

Children's charity NCH welcomed any "change in attitude" to lone parents but questioned the "Shameless analogy".

In a speech to the Reform think tank, Mr Grayling said the Conservative Party should focus on parenting problems generally - not on single parents.

'Disappearing' skills

"In too many parts of our society responsible parenting and good parenting experience is disappearing," Mr Grayling said.

"I think many parts of our society no longer know how to bring up children. We live in a country where in many places Frank Gallagher-style parenting has become the norm and not the exception."

Sometimes over the past 25 years the Conservative Party has seemed to be at war with lone parents. That should not happen again Chris Grayling

He said in many families children are "largely left to their own devices" and will ask how people learn parenting skills, "if that inherited knowledge simply isn't there".

He added: "Those skills can quickly disappear. In many of our most troubled areas, the generations pass pretty quickly. Thirty-year-old grandparents and 45-year-old great-grandparents are far from unusual in today's Britain."

But he said it was a more complex issue than family breakdown alone.

"Sometimes over the past 25 years the Conservative Party has seemed to be at war with lone parents. That should not happen again," he said.

He said the party should concentrate on helping lone parents, not stigmatising them, by reforming the Child Support Agency.

And he re-emphasised the value of work in structuring lives and strengthening a sense of personal responsibility.

Clare Tickell, chief executive of NCH, said: "The Conservative Party's growing understanding and concern for those trapped in the cycle of poverty and poor parenting is welcome. The change in attitude to lone parents shows their commitment to change.

"However, any use of negative labels to describe vulnerable parents risks stigmatising and isolating those most in need. Chris Grayling's use of the 'Shameless' analogy shows these negative attitudes are still widespread."

Fiona Weir, chief executive of the charity Gingerbread/One Parent Families, also welcomed "the new warmth of tone" from the Conservatives but added: "The proof will be in the policies."

She questioned the Conservatives' idea of tax breaks for some married couples as being "hard to reconcile with a positive recognition of lone parents' needs".