Today, Nigel Farage announced that he wanted to make it easier for people to have more children. The Reform UK leader said that his party would scrap the two-child benefit cap and create tax incentives for married couples, explaining, 'not because we support a benefits culture, but because we believe for lower paid workers, this actually makes having children just a little bit easier for them'. But just how helpful is this for parents?
In a speech in central London, he explained tax breaks and scrapping the benefit cap 'doesn’t solve all of those problems, but it helps them', adding, 'And I want to emphasise that this is aimed at British families. It’s not aimed at those that come into the country and suddenly decide to have a lot of children.' These comments follow the Reform UK leader's claims that he would look at the law on abortion, saying it's 'utterly ludicrous' to allow abortion up to 24 weeks and the law is 'totally out of date'.
Joeli Brearley, founder of Pregnant Then Screwed, told Grazia, 'Rather than helping mothers, Farage is putting women in the position of it being their fault we have a low birth rate. It’s an opportunity for Farage to say, “Come on lasses, why are you not getting up the duff more? Why are you not doing your duty as women to procreate? That’s what you’re here for.” It’s straight out of the playbook of other right-wing leaders. Part of the reason for the falling birth rate in this country is because couples can’t afford to have children.
'He's offering tax breaks to married couples who have children, but he hasn’t laid out how he’s going to pay for this. Incentives like this sound great to the voting public: get rid of the two-child benefit cap, make the tax burden lower for married couples. But how is going to afford this? It doesn’t add up economically at all.'
She went on to explain that MPs trying to incentivise women to have babies is nothing new. 'In 2022, then Prime Minister Liz Truss was criticised for proposals to give parents tax breaks to quit work to care for their child. But critics said this didn’t actually deal with the root cause of falling birth rates and would just drive mothers out of the workplace,' she explains.
'Farage is appealing to older votes with these “let’s go back to the good old days” lines. But he’s also appealing to younger voters. Polls show they want to buy a house and have a baby, but they don’t feel they can do that right now. He understands this and is shouting about policies that would make it easier for them. But when you dig under the surface, none it stacks up.
'He wants to reduce immigration, but that would result in a net loss for the economy. Farage doesn’t want to rely on immigration to keep the UK spinning, so he needs women to keep having children. But I’m really nervous about where all this goes. For example, he wants to reduce the time limit on abortions, thinking it will increase the birth rate. But he’s not taking into account women’s liberation, freedom, and choice. He’s completely ignoring the needs of women, and his intention is all wrong.'
In her eyes, there's one clear way to truly incentivise couples to have more children: affordable childcare and the cost of living. If you want more babies, introduce better parental leave and accessible childcare.