Letter: Single parents: ministers applauded and condemned

Sir: John Redwood is to be applauded, not condemned, for his 'ideologically driven brainwave' (report, 5 July). That a senior colleague of his could suggest that Mr Redwood was 'from another planet' shows how unusual it has become for a government minister to have a personal ideology at all - let alone one which is linked to morality.

Your editorial (5 July) was right in one respect; the present government has shown that it prefers to act before it thinks. However, to reject Mr Redwood's suggestion as 'absurd' is for the Independent to respond without thinking. The details of Mr Redwood's suggestion certainly need more careful thought; however, his focus on the immorality connected with many one-parent family situations, and upon the importance of the 'love and support' that two-parent families should be able to offer children, is one that is long overdue.

Yours faithfully,

RALPH E. IRELAND

Chinnor,

Oxfordshire

5 July