Corinthia Ward, Birmingham Socialist Party
Tory leadership hopeful and controversial right-wing figure Kemi Badenoch has once again stirred the news with her comments on maternity pay during the first day of Conservative Party conference.
She commented that: “Statutory maternity pay is a function of tax” and in her view “is excessive”, further adding: “We need to have more personal responsibility. There was a time when there wasn’t any maternity pay and people were having more babies.”
In reality, the UK has amongst of the lowest levels of maternity pay of all the wealthy OECD countries. Someone receiving the average UK weekly wage of £689 would get the equivalent of just over £250 a week. Compare that to the figure of £540 which is required for a single person to maintain a minimum acceptable standard of living.
Badenoch herself resigned from her job at the Spectator when she became pregnant with her second child. This was her decision to make, so that is up to her – but a decision like this is easier to make when you know you have the salary of your highly positioned banker husband in Deutsche Bank to support you!
Many working-class families are choosing to either delay having children or having fewer, if any at all, due to the rising cost of living, high childcare costs and low wages. There are already concerns about UK birthrates, which have fallen from 1.94 children per woman in 2012 to 1.55 in 2021.
Badenoch’s comments are yet another display of how capitalist politicians are disconnected from the reality of normal workers’ lives. Badenoch’s class privilege means she will not face the uncertainties and economic instability of many mothers, parents or caregivers.
The Socialist Party fights for a new mass party, whose politicians are rooted in the conditions of the working class. Rather than making crass comments such as this, Socialist Party members fight for better maternity pay, and matching paternity pay, to ensure working families are kept out of poverty.
