UK politics live: Kemi Badenoch says maternity pay ‘excessive’ as Rosie Duffield launches attack on Starmer
Kemi Badenoch has claimed maternity pay benefits are “excessive” and called people to have “more personal responsibility”.
The Tory leadership hopeful told Times Radio that the pay varies depending on who you work for but statutory maternity pay is “a function of tax”.
The remarks come after the shadow secretary defended her claim that there has been a recent rise in the number of migrants coming to the UK who “hate Israel”.
She said in a newspaper op-ed on Sunday that migrants’ “feet may be in the UK, but their heads and hearts are still back in their country of origin.”
But when she was asked on Sky News if she was referring to Muslim immigrants, Ms Badenoch disagreed.
Meanwhile, MP Rosie Duffield has launched a scathing attack on Sir Keir Starmer since resigning the Labour whip on Saturday, accusing the prime minister of “having a problem with women”.
She told the BBC that many women backbenchers she’s friends with refer to the “young men that surround him [Starmer] as ‘the lads’ and it’s clear that the lads are now in charge”.
The Independent’s political team will be reporting live throughout the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham.
