Back families and marriage

As Mayor, Alan Craig will ensure every part of London's £10 billion budget is used to sustain relationships between people and keep social networks together. This means facing up to the pressures on our daily lives and giving real support to families.

Street gangs, school under-achievement, substance misuse and petty criminality are all symptoms of broken homes. Alan will start to mend Broken London by backing families who demonstrate a commitment to stay together. So, every resident couple marrying in London will get a grant of £1,000 towards the costs of setting-up home.

Politicians in all the secular parties have waged war against marriage. What they have sown is now being reaped as social whirlwinds of youth crime, addictive behaviours, educational under-achievement and an epidemic of self-harm among our young people. The answer is for a new approach that backs marriage. But I will also tackle other factors, such as poverty which puts pressure on relationships, welfare dependency and the explosion in gambling and drugs.

The Conservatives talk a lot about marriage - but London 2008 is the third election now where their policies are silent on what they will actually do. Under Labour nationally, 27% of children now live with only one parent, up by a quarter since they came to power. The Christian Choice pledges to take marriage seriously.

London schools have a part to play. Through the boroughs we will ensure children are taught that God's ideal for society works best - which is that one man and one woman should make a commitment to each other in marriage, for life.

Children need fathers, so Alan will ensure London provides a better work and life balance by challenging the long-hours culture. And instead of policies that force children into day-long nursery or after-school care while both parents work, Alan will press the government to ensure real choice for families, so one parent can afford to be at home.