It’s not unfair on stay-home mums to help others return to work, insists PM

DAVID Cameron has upset stay-at-home mothers by claiming there is nothing ‘unfair’ in using state funds to encourage women into work.

The Prime Minister used a speech yesterday to say that British politics has been ‘constrained’ with the idea that helping parents with childcare costs penalises mothers who do not take a job.

He asked: ‘How does helping someone who wants to go to work hurt someone who wants to stay at home?’

But angry representatives of stay-athome mothers accused him of ‘social engineering’, saying they are being ‘punished’ because they are losing

‘Social engineering’

money through taxes which are then channelled into the childcare industry.

Stay-at-home mothers were also angry at George Osborne’s decision five years ago to cut child benefit for the highest earners. Mr Cameron made his controversial remarks during a speech marking his tenth anniversary as Tory leader.

He said his party had promised ‘security when you’re raising a family’ at the last election, adding that childcare was an important element of that pledge.

The Prime Minister told his audience at the De Ferrers Academy in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, that there was an ‘argument that needed turning on its head’.

‘For years, we’ve been constrained by the idea that, by helping people with childcare costs, we are somehow being unfair on those parents who choose not to work,’ he said. ‘But how does helping someone who wants to go to work hurt someone who wants to stay at home?’

Mr Cameron said his spending review had made a ‘£6billion commitment to hardworking families’.

‘With tax-free childcare, worth up to £2,000 per child, per year, from early 2017,’ he said. ‘With “wraparound childcare”, launched today, allowing parents to request childcare before and after school and in the holidays. And yes – with that big commitment in our manifesto: 30 hours of free childcare each week for the parents of three and four-year-olds.’

But Laura Perrins, from pressure group Mothers At Home Matter, attacked the Prime Minister’s comments.

‘David Cameron is the dimmest prime minister,’ she said.

‘We have a finite amount of resources, and single-income families are penalised in the tax system. If you introduce a childcare subsidy for the select few, you involve yourself in social engineering and punish families who care for their children at home.

‘£6.5billion goes into the childcare industry every year, and that is punishing full-time mothers.’

Also in his speech, Mr Cameron reaffirmed his plans for a seven-day health service – calling it ‘one of our biggest manifesto pledges’ but added that doctors and nurses will not be expected to work seven days in a row without breaks.