as a word mendelssohn pointed out nothing like this has been proposed in parliament ever before. this is a massive change. this legislation deeply affects the core fabric of our society to the challenge it proposes to the whole institution of marriage. of reference has been made to spain which introduced legislation in 2005 and the overall management formed by 20% and research shows children raised in mary household with a mother and father fare better than those -- the government threatens to damage the chances of the nation's children. as mike friend pointed out and others have as well not to the prime minister nor any other party leader has a mandate since it was not in any party's manifesto let alone in the coalition agreement. my right hon. friend of prime minister insisted on speaking to the 1.7% target on the grounds that he gave a commitment in 2009 and i respect him for that, he stuck to that commitment but not the commitment to introduce tax breaks for married couples and now and that the policy which specifically ruled out in the last general election. >> does my hon.

in the statement by mendelssohn, in connection with france, he said to be a citizen in the streets but a jew at home, but that is not the message you get from the stable of kosher food in philadelphia. it is ok to be a jew in public, too. it is not a matter of expressing to the private. the spirit of freedom is perhaps unique to the united states in the world, but even here, even with that kind of sounding, and even with the words of the first amendment to express that, things have not always been so happy, and especially not always so happy for minorities in america. he was not then chief justice but the man who was going to become chief justice of the supreme court fought on the convention to exclude roman catholics. it was a big fight. he was defeated alternately, but that was an attempt, and it was not long after, and that was a time when catholics constituted less than 1% of the population of the united states and were no threat out all. as larger numbers of roman catholics came to these shores, especially from ireland but also from other places in europe, the conflict between cat