Why ‘bonk for Britain’ makes no kind of sense

Another day another crazy idea which has got people talking…This time round it’s ‘bonk for Britain’. Apparently a ‘top Tory’ has suggested we should go the way of the far-right regime in Hungary and offer tax cuts to women to have more children in order to solve the issues associated with an ageing society. It’s hard to know where to begin. Control of women’s bodies is a traditional trope of far-right regimes – witness Trump’s moves on abortion rights – with women often being drafted into anti-immigration drives as baby machines. The idea is that British women will produce lots of babies and there will be no need for immigration. The workforce of tomorrow will be guaranteed.

It’s wrong on all sorts of grounds, from environmental to moral ones, but it also doesn’t make any kind of sense because the UK is suffering from labour shortages as a result of a number of reasons, including the ageing workforce, the failure to properly address economic inactivity, lack of basic health and care infrastructure to enable people to work and Brexit. Industry needs people now, not to wait for another generation. The women will presumably not be able to work much, if at all, because the tax cuts would have to be pretty high to cover childcare and all the other costs associated with bringing up children.

In the discussions about this issue, there has been a lot of focus on childcare costs in the UK and they are outrageous – in fact so outrageous that many parents find ways around them if they can, which often has an impact on what jobs they can do and what hours they can work and is often fraught with regular breakdowns and all the stress that involves. A report out today highlights this and proposes some suggestions, the more radical of which is to put early years childcare in schools, something that childcare providers have said is ‘incredibly misguided’. Clearly, a wider, deeper, more public debate is needed.

Yet, despite the pressing childcare issue, there are so many other costs involved in raising children, particularly at the current time when many cannot even afford to put basic food on the table. As a mother of four children, childcare has been very difficult and I have organised my whole working life around picks-ups, holidays and so forth, but there are endless other costs and they don’t end at the age of 18. I have one daughter at university now. There is no way she can live for nine months on the 1.5K pounds left from her student loan after her student halls costs are discounted. She either has to work almost full time or we have to subsidise her. My eldest daughters’ friends have graduated now and still need financial help to get a foot on any kind of ladder. It may be all very well for parents on a salary of over 100K, but that is not most people.

Moreover, the fear is that all the talk of childcare costs will enable the Government to present as the answer plans for huge deregulation of the childcare sector and changes in ratios, with worrying implications for child safety or greater ‘parental choice’ through directing cash to parents rather than established childcare providers. Childcare is a hugely emotional issue and policymakers should tread carefully. A radical approach is needed, but one that recognises the importance and value of early years education and that includes parents, and surely not one that undermines children’s safety. Childcare is not just about the cost, but also the kind of care on offer. Every child deserves quality care.

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