Ken Clarke has published plans to boost the rights of separated and divorced the fathers to see their children, as part of changes to the family justice system.

The justice secretary said on Monday morning "We're stating what I think is the view of most people, that both parents have rights and responsibilities towards their children, and the children are entitled to try to maintain both parents if it's all possible.

"But what we're doing is going to state that principle in the law, because there are far too many people who its still think it's not being applied," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

After a similar change in Australia caused delays in custody cases for children, Clarke said the government would think "very carefully" about how to "avoid the Pitfalls of the Australian experience".

The government also said they would look at how children could maintain their relationship with grandparents.

Last week the department for education said the new rules would make it "much clearer that it is vital for children to have an ongoing relationship with both parents."

It comes after a review into family law led by former senior civil servant David Norgrove. However Norgrove's findings said any legal statement of rights of separated parents could lead to "confusion" and "false expectations."

On Monday Clarke said: "We are also going to have to draft what we do to avoid all the undoubted dangers in Australia which caused David Norgrove and his colleagues to be hesitant."

Children's minister Tim Loughton said: "In all of this, the most important thing remains the principle that the child's welfare is the paramount consideration and this must not be diluted.

"The state cannot create happy families, or broker amicable break-ups. But if children are having decent, loving parents pushed out of their lives, we owe it to them to change the system that lets this happen."