JACK McCONNELL’s judgment has been called into question again over his decision to launch “quickie divorces” during national marriage week.

The first minister is expected to announce his family law bill tomorrow, allowing couples to divorce after a year of separation instead of the current two-year requirement.

He has chosen to do so on the same day as the launch of Marriage Week 2005, a celebration of the institution backed by Tony Blair, Michael Howard, Charles Kennedy and church leaders.

Last week the Scottish executive confirmed marriage as a “pillar of national life” with the launch of its sexual health strategy for schools.

McConnell is currently facing an inquiry by the Scottish parliamentary standards commissioner over his failure to declare hospitality he received from Kirsty Wark, the broadcaster, at her Spanish villa.

Last week he told a party of schoolchildren that it was acceptable to get drunk once in a while. Last year he was forced into a humiliating climbdown over his refusal to attend the D-Day commemorations in Normandy. He was also involved in a public spat with Sean Connery at Tartan Day and faced accusations of breaching the ministerial code over Scottish Opera.

“Jack is running at the rate of a serious gaffe a week,” said a Labour insider. “It’s embarrassing for the party so close to a general election. He needs to get a grip, quickly.”

Richard Kane, director of National Marriage Week, said: “This is a very strange decision. To coincide this with national marriage week and St Valentine’s Day seems an error of judgment.”

Kane accused the Scottish executive of showing “an unhealthy dose of political correctness”, saying that ministers should be doing more to support the institution of marriage.

“The reality is that most marriages still last a lifetime and still provide the best support for children and adults, but politicians are scared to disenfranchise single parents,” he added.

By contrast he claimed that there had been “a serious increase” in the level of family breakdowns where the parents are unmarried.

Tony Blair has lent his public support to national marriage week, claiming that “marriage and family life provide the underpinning of a cohesive and stable society”.

In a message posted on the National Marriage Week website, the prime minister said: “As someone who has been married for many years, I know that marriage provides not only personal happiness but also a stable and secure environment in which to raise children.”

The Catholic church in Scotland claims McConnell is undermining the sanctity of marriage and that quickie divorces will encourage the breakdown of marriages. It wants the first minister to scrap the plan and to tackle rising divorce rates in Scotland by funding marriage guidance services instead.

The executive insists the new legislation will avoid protracted disputes between estranged couples, allowing adults and children to put the pain of a failed marriage behind them.

At present divorce is granted in Scotland only if it can be shown that the marriage has broken down irretrievably, as a result of adultery, unreasonable behaviour, desertion or non-cohabitation.

Couples can seek a divorce if they have lived apart for two years — as long as both agree — or five years if they do not.

The new legislation will reduce the minimum time that couples have to live apart before they can get a divorce.

Marriage guidance counsellors agree that lengthy divorce proceedings can take their toll on children, but that more families could be kept together if better mediation services were available.

As well as making divorce easier, the new bill will grant legal rights to unmarried fathers who register the birth of their child alongside the mother, in recognition of their role in the bringing up their children. At the moment, only the mother has such rights, even if the father’s name is on the child’s birth certificate.

The move follows a series of stunts by Fathers 4 Justice, a group that campaigns for the rights of divorced fathers.

The organisation has been active in Scotland, with two members staging a rooftop protest at the Scottish parliament in December.

Scotland’s divorce rate is one of the highest in Europe, with 11,000 marriages breaking up each year.

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