The verdict last week on Karen Matthews and her vile accomplice is also a verdict on our broken society.
The details are damning. A fragmented family held together by drink, drugs and deception. An estate where decency fights a losing battle against degradation and despair. A community whose pillars are crime, unemployment and addiction.
If only this were a one-off story. But Shannon Matthews is just the latest innocent young face to stare out from the front pages.
Before her there was Baby P, a tiny boy beaten by lower-than-life thugs. Before him, there was Shaun Dykes, a suicidal teenager taunted by a gang of yobs to end his own life. Before him, there was Rhys Jones, shot dead as he cycled home from football practice. It goes on.
How can Gordon Brown argue that people who talk about a broken society are wrong? These children suffered at the very sharpest end of our broken society but all over the country are other young victims, too.
Children whose toys are dad’s discarded drink bottles; whose role models are criminals, liars and layabouts; whose innocence is lost before their first milk tooth.
What chance for these children? Raised without manners, morals or a decent education, they’re caught up in the same destructive chain as their parents. It’s a chain that links unemployment, family breakdown, debt, drugs and crime. Breaking that chain means recognising the scale of the problem and taking serious, long-term action.
Three years ago, when I became leader of the Conservative Party, I set out our central mission: to fix our broken society. That’s still the case today. In fact, the people I’ve met have strengthened my determination.
Last week, I met Damilola Taylor’s father Richard, who has coped with tragedy with such dignity. His life was shattered by his son’s death but he has picked up the pieces and he’s making a real difference. Like so many others I’ve met, he is a survivor of the broken society.
On the train on the way back from a public meeting, I met a young man who has lost many friends to knife crime. He is now determined to go from school to school and tell kids how wrong it is to carry a knife. I owe it to people like Richard and that young man to keep this mission alive.
But some say that right now we should focus only on finding a way out of this recession – that treating social failure is just a distraction. But the broken economy and the broken society go hand in hand. You cannot treat one problem without addressing the other.
Let’s not forget that one of the reasons our public finances are in such a mess is the sky-high costs of social failure.
Family breakdown, unemployment and drug and alcohol addiction all rack up massive bills for Government. We have to bring down these costs to get public spending to a more controlled level, and we must do that to rebuild a stronger economy. So fixing our broken society is even more important now that we face a deep recession.
So what would that mission look like under a Conservative Government? Certainly policing will play its part. I want to see more police spending time in our communities – not arresting MPs just trying to get on with their job.
And, yes, we do need tougher punishment, longer sentences and more prison places. But it’s not enough just to treat the symptoms of social breakdown – we need to treat its causes.
The Conservative plan starts with supporting families. We have some of the highest rates of family breakdown in Europe – and some of the worst social problems in Europe. Don’t tell me these things aren’t related.
We can’t help the change in heart that ends many marriages but we can offer practical support to lift family stresses. The birth of a baby is a joy but many marriages break down in the first year after a child is born. That’s why we’ll introduce 12 months’ parental leave – to be shared by the mother and father as they choose – and a universal health-visiting service for all parents.
And as any parent knows, juggling work and childcare can put a strain on the strongest relationship. We need a revolution in flexible working – and the next Conservative Government will lead it.
We’ll also reform tax and benefits so that they support and strengthen families and marriage and we will put an end to the ‘couple penalty’ to send out the message that as a society we reward commitment.
Another challenge is reforming our schools. It is a tragedy that today, almost half of all 11-year-olds cannot read, write and add up properly.
Turning this around won’t happen overnight – it needs long-term change. Not just tougher discipline and stronger standards, but radical reform.
That’s why we’re planning 1,000 new academies with real freedoms, and why we’ll allow people with a passion for education to set up their own schools.
Perhaps the toughest task ahead is reforming welfare. Today in Britain, there are almost five million working-age people out of work and on benefits. This is a tragedy.
Work gives life shape. It gives people esteem and responsibility. It powers our economy. So we’re going to end the something-for-nothing culture. If you don’t take a reasonable offer of a job, you will lose benefits. No ifs, no buts.
This is what Government can do. But it’ll be down to all of us to take responsibility and fix our broken society. That responsibility starts at home. I was so impressed by the actions of Neil Metcalfe, the father who found a gun in his son’s bedroom and tipped off the police.
Refreshingly, his son felt the same after a while. ‘It’s right that parents take this line,’ he said. ‘If more did, there’d be less trouble.’ Imagine if everyone stepped up to the plate like that.
By reinforcing our responsibilities to each other, we can help to create a culture of mutual respect and revive Britain’s best values.
I know that cultural change like this won’t be made in a year, a parliamentary term or a decade. It’ll take a generation. But we must keep heart and keep working to achieve it.
Three years ago, I set out my mission and, three years on, I’m more fired up for change than ever. In three years’ time, I want to be in Government, rolling up my sleeves to get things done.
Because for all its problems and broken dreams, Britain is still the best country in the world. Together we can make it better.