Kemi Badenoch criticizes excessive statutory maternity benefits

Tory leadership candidate Kemi Badenoch has suggested statutory maternity pay is “excessive”.

According to the government website, new mothers are legally entitled to 90% of their average income for six weeks, followed by a maximum of £184.03 per week for the next 33 weeks.

But Badenoch, a former minister for women and equalities, said on Times Radio this morning that the exact amount was “neither here nor there”.

She said she was in favor of parents taking “more personal responsibility” rather than burdening companies with more regulations.

The MP said: “Maternity pay varies depending on who you work for, but it is a role where it is statutory maternity pay. It is a function of the load.

“Taxes come from people who work. We take from one group of people and give to another group. This, in my opinion, is excessive.”

Asked by presenter Kate McCann whether she thinks maternity pay is excessive, Badenoch said: “I think it has gone too far the other way when it comes to general business regulation.

“We must give companies, especially small companies, the opportunity to make more decisions for themselves. In my opinion, the exact amount of maternity benefit is stated neither here nor there. We need to ensure that we create an environment where people can work and people have more freedom to make their individual decisions.”

But McCann hit back: “Well, it’s neither here nor there for people who can’t afford to have a baby, isn’t it?”

Badenoch replied: “That is necessary have more personal responsibility. There was a time when there were no maternity benefits and people were having more babies.”

McCann then told her: ‘That’s because women often didn’t have to work. They had to stay home. Is that the solution then?”

The former minister then accused the interviewer of “putting words in my mouth”.

She added: “The point I want to make, Kate, is that we are at a point where the government is broken and tinkering with everything. The fact that I give you an exact amount of what the maternity benefit should be if the circumstances are different everywhere is not what we assume.”