Tom Tugendhat has said that he disagrees with Kemi Badenoch that statutory maternity pay is “excessive”.
Tugendhat, speaking at a fringe event at Conservative Party conference, claimed he was not familiar with the context of the shadow housing secretary’s comments, but insisted that it is “incredibly important that women have the ability to choose how to live their lives”.
Badenoch was asked on Sunday morning whether Britain had the right level of maternity pay. She responded that “is excessive”, pointing to businesses closing and not starting as evidence.
“We’re taking from one group of people and giving to another”, Badenoch told Times Radio. “This, in my view, is excessive. Businesses are closing, businesses are not starting in the UK, because they say the burden of regulation is too high.”
She added: “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 their own decisions.
“The exact amount of maternity pay in my view is neither here nor there. We need to make sure people have more freedom to make their individual decisions. … We need to have more personal responsibility.”
Asked about Badenoch’s remark that statutory maternity pay has gone “too far”, the shadow security minister said: “No. I’m afraid I don’t know the context of her comments, but I do know that it is incredibly important that women have the ability to choose how to live their lives.
“It’s not for me to tell you whether you should go to work or stay at home or which job to do, or how many kids to have. That’s none of my business. What’s my business as a politician is to make sure that you have the support for choice.
He added: “You can choose who you love, you can choose who you marry, you can choose who you spend your life with, but it is in our interest to support long and stable and loving relationships that is in our interest. And that’s what we should champion.”
Since making her initial comments, Badenoch has sought to clarify her view of maternity pay, saying in a subsequent post on social media: “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! Watch the clip for the truth.”
Josh Self is Editor of Politics.co.uk, follow him on X/Twitter here.
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