Fact check: The Conservatives are not planning to end maternity pay

During Prime Minister’s Questions on October 16, Sir Keir Starmer was asked a question by a fellow Labour MP about cycles of poverty.

To begin his answer, the Prime Minister said: “The party opposite – they want to get rid of maternity pay, but keep hereditary peers. It’s the same old Tories.”

Evaluation

A row erupted at the recent Conservative Party Conference over prospective leader Kemi Badenoch’s position on maternity pay.

However, Ms Badenoch’s comments were framed more generally around workplace regulations being “excessive” rather than this specific kind of payment.

The Conservative Party, which has not yet decided who will be its leader, has not adopted a policy to scrap maternity pay.

The facts

Maternity pay was established in British law under the Employment Protection Act 1975, passed by Harold Wilson’s Labour government, building on a Maternity Allowance introduced in 1948 (under Labour’s Clement Attlee) and the right to maternity leave as originally granted in 1933 (under Ramsay MacDonald, also Labour).

Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) was then established in 1987, under Tory Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and has been expanded under successive governments.

On September 29 this year, Ms Badenoch – running to be leader of the Conservative Party – was being interviewed by Times Radio, where she said SMP “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.”

Pushed on whether this meant she thought maternity pay was excessive, Ms Badenoch replied: “I think it’s gone too far the other way in terms of general business regulation.” She added that the exact amount paid in SMP was “neither here nor there”.

Later on social media site X, formerly Twitter, she clarified: “Of course I believe in maternity pay.” Ms Badenoch also wrote that maternity pay “isn’t excessive”.

The No 10 press office has been contacted for comment.

Links

UK Parliament – Oral Answers to Questions Debated on Wednesday October 16 2024 (archived)

Employment Protection Act 1975, Part II, Section 36 – legislation.gov.uk (archived)

Maternity Allowance background (archived)

Maternity Pay in the UK | Croner (archived)

House of Commons Library: Maternity pay and leave (archived)

Kemi Badenoch post on X with Times Radio interview clip (archived post and video)