"Lad mags" encourage irresponsible behaviour among young men and promote a negative image of women, a leading Tory is due to say.

Shadow education secretary Michael Gove is expected to link the magazines to relationship breakdown and fatherless children in a high-profile speech.

He intends to rebuke the magazines for their "instant-hit hedonism".

He will also claim the government is presiding over a widening educational gap between poor and rich children.

Mr Gove is due to give his speech on family, marriage and education at a meeting organised by the left-leaning think tank IPPR.

Teaching responsibility

"Titles such as Nuts and Zoo UK parliament approves EU treaty ...
Tory MP paid nanny from expenses ...
Prague Fringe Festival gets underway on Sunday ... paint a picture of women as permanently, lasciviously, uncomplicatedly available," his speech says.

"We should ask those who make profits out of revelling in, or encouraging, selfish irresponsibility among young men what they think they're doing.

"They celebrate thrill-seeking and instant gratification without ever allowing any thought of responsibility towards others, or commitment, to intrude."

He will stress the Conservative commitment to measures supporting marriage and the family - including use of the tax system - and suggest the drive to reduce teenage pregnancy should put more emphasis on making young men come to terms with their responsibilities.

'Strengthening family'

According to the shadow schools secretary, Labour's centralised "Starbucks" style approach to schools is producing increasing inequality and unhappiness in society.

Instead, he claims, the Conservatives will rebuild parents' relationships with schools and put well-being at the heart of their government.

He will quote figures that show almost half of children from deprived backgrounds fail to get a single good GCSE - a level of inequality which he brands a "national disgrace".

Official statistics released by the government in response to Tory questions reveal that 45% of the poorest children - those eligible for free school meals - failed to get a GCSE at grade C or above in 2006/07, compared to 24% generally.

According to Mr Gove, "For all Gordon Brown's talk of creating a fair society with opportunity for all, the reality is very different.

"A child from a deprived background is 193 times more likely to leave school without a single good GCSE than they are to get three As at A-level.

"Reforming our schools and strengthening our families is the key to building a better, happier and fairer society."

'Secret plan'

Another set of figures obtained by the Conservatives showed that only about 5,000 of the 80,000 poorest pupils stayed on in education after the age of 16 in 2006-07.

Mr Gove has attacked the government's multi-million pound scheme aimed at keeping them in education.

Ministers spent £924 million on the Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA) in the first three years of its operation, paying £30 a week to teenagers from low and middle-income backgrounds who study for further qualifications after GCSEs.

But the Conservatives said that among the poorest group of pupils, the number staying on after 16 increased by a total of less than 400 over the three-year period.

Schools minister Jim Knight accused Mr Gove of a "secret plan" to scrap the EMA, which he said had encouraged thousands of young people to study for further qualifications since it was launched across England in 2004.

"David Cameron has already said he cannot guarantee the future of EMAs under a future Conservative government and this latest attempt by Michael Gove to undermine them suggests they have a secret plan to cut this vital support for students on low and middle incomes," he said.

(BBC)

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