KEMI Badenoch has sparked outrage by branding maternity pay “excessive” and urging mothers to show “more personal responsibility”.
The Tory leadership hopeful warned businesses are being crippled by the “burden of regulation”, hinting generous maternity benefits are part of the problem.
She argued women were having “more babies” when the benefit didn’t exist.
It has triggered a mega backlash at the party’s Birmingham conference – including criticism from her leadership rivals.
As the Tory leadership contest burst into life, the Shadow Communities Secretary told Times Radio: “Maternity pay varies depending on who you work for, but it is a function, where it’s statutory maternity pay.
“It 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.”
Pressed …