Clegg attacks Tories' view of marriage

Nick Clegg is to accuse Tories who back a marriage tax break of wanting to preserve a 1950s view of family life.

In a speech to the Demos think tank tomorrow, the Deputy Prime Minister will say: "We should not take a particular version of the family institution, such as the 1950s model of suit-wearing, bread-winning dad and aproned, homemaking mother – and try and preserve it in aspic."

Mr Clegg will say that the coalition government does not believe "that the state should use the tax system to encourage a particular family form". A survey for the Centre for the Modern Family found 77 per cent of people believe single parents can be a family and 59 per cent thought same-sex couples can be a family.

Mr Clegg will also distance himself from the Conservative view of the "big society" and the Labour view of the big state, setting out his vision of an open society. And he will attack the legal profession for being "woefully unrepresentative" of modern Britain.