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David Cameron says it ‘simply isn’t acceptable’ for mothers to be left to bring up children on their own Fathers who abandon their families should be “stigmatised” by society in the same way as drink-drivers, David Cameron has said. The prime minister said “runaway dads” should be made to feel the “full force of shame” for their actions. In an article for the Sunday Telegraph to mark Father’s Day, he said it “simply isn’t acceptable” for mothers to be left to bring up children on their own. Cameron indicated his determination to introduce tax breaks for married couples – a Tory general election pledge that appeared to have been dropped by the coalition in the face of Liberal Democrat opposition. “I want us to recognise marriage in the tax system so as a country we show we value commitment,” he wrote. Before the election, Nick Clegg described Tory proposals to introduce a tax cut of at least £150 for married couples as ” patronising drivel that belong in the Edwardian age “. Cameron issued a strong defence of traditional family life, describing it as the “cornerstone of our society”, and called for a new drive to “bring fathers back into the lives of all our children”. Even when parents were separated, he said, fathers had a duty to support their children “financially and emotionally” – spending time with them at weekends, attending nativity plays and taking an interest in their education. Where men were unwilling to face up to their family obligations, Cameron said, it was up to the rest of society to make clear that such behaviour was unacceptable. “It’s high time runaway dads were stigmatised, and the full force of shame was heaped upon them,” he said. “They should be looked at like drink-drivers, people who are beyond the pale. “They need the message rammed home to them, from every part of our culture, that what they’re doing is wrong – that leaving single mothers, who do a heroic job against all odds, to fend for themselves simply isn’t acceptable.” Cameron described how he had learned his values from his own father, Ian Cameron, who died last year aged 77. “From my father, I learned about responsibility. Seeing him get up before the crack of dawn to go and do a hard day’s work and not come back until late at night had a profound impact on me,” he said. David Cameron Conservatives Parents and parenting Family Father’s Day Children guardian.co.uk