Tory leadership candidate Kemi Badenoch has said maternity pay has "gone too far" and the government needed to interfere less in peoples' lives. Speaking to Times Radio, Badenoch said statutory maternity pay,

There was a time when there wasn’t any maternity pay and people were having more babies’. Kemi Badenoch remains the clear favourite amongst Tory members to be next leader, according to the latest survey of members from the ConservativeHome website.

Robert Jenrick said that the party should be ‘firmly on the side of parents’ in the wake of Ms Badenoch’s interview.

Conservative leadership hopeful Kemi Badenoch has said she does believe in maternity pay hours after calling on people to have ‘more personal responsibility’ over the benefit. The former business secretary told Times Radio this morning: ‘There was a time when there wasn’t any maternity pay and people were having more babies.

Statutory maternity pay is “excessive” and the red tape around the benefit has “gone too far”, Kemi Badenoch has suggested.