Monday, September 30, 2024
Tories reject motherhood and apple pie again
Back then Leadsom was forced to withdraw from the Conservative leadership contest after she suggested in an interview with the Times that she would make a better prime minister than May because she had children, whereas her opponent had none. A firestorm ensued which threatened to sour the final, all-female leg of this contest and there was no coming back for the hapless South Northamptonshire MP.
Now, we have Kemi Badenoch telling an interviewer that maternity pay is “excessive” and people should exercise “more personal responsibility”:
The shadow communities secretary said one of the principles she was fighting her Tory leadership contest around was a call for the state to do less, as “the answer cannot be let the government help people to have babies”.
However, she has since clarified her remarks, saying she does “believe in maternity pay”.
Badenoch said on X: “Contrary to what some have said, I clearly said the burden of regulation on businesses had gone too far … of course I believe in maternity pay!”
Earlier, in an interview with Times Radio, she was asked if she thought maternity pay was at the right level.
Badenoch said: “Maternity pay varies, depending on who you work for. But statutory maternity pay is a function of tax, tax comes from people who are working. We’re taking from one group of people and giving to another. This, in my view, is excessive.
“Businesses are closing, businesses are not starting in the UK, because they say that the burden of regulation is too high.”
Asked again if she thought maternity pay was excessive, Badenoch replied: “I think it’s gone too far the other way, in terms of general business regulation. We need to allow businesses, especially small businesses, to make more of those decisions.
“The exact amount of maternity pay, in my view, is neither here nor there. We need to make sure that we are creating an environment where people can work and people can have more freedom to make their own decisions.”
The Tory leadership hopeful was told that the current level of maternity pay was necessary for people who could not afford to have a baby without it.
Badenoch replied: “We need to have more personal responsibility. There was a time when there wasn’t any maternity pay and people were having more babies.”
Can she defy the odds and avoid Leadsom's fate. We can only wait and see.
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In 'the past' a person could go out to work and the partner could stay at home and look after the baby/child before school age and after. The support of neighbours etc helped. That was a time when BOTH adults DID NOT HAVE TO WORK to fund living. Maternity pay is now needed cos of both adults NEEDING to work to fund living. We are no longer top dog in trade where maternity pay was not needed.
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