In a widely circulated interview with Times Radio, Conservative MP and leadership hopeful Kemi Badenoch added another controversial statement to her growing list of contentious remarks.

The 44-year-old Shadow Housing and Communities Secretary is no stranger to stirring up strong reactions, but this time she has been accused of implying that maternity pay is “excessive.”

Statutory maternity pay in the UK currently starts at 90% of average weekly earnings for six weeks, then falls to the lower of either £184.03 or 90% of the mother's average salary for the next 33 weeks. However, it is only available to women who are employed and earning an average weekly salary of at least £123. The UK's maternity pay ranks among the lowest in Europe, coming 22nd out of 24 countries. The Trades Union Congress accused Badenoch of being "out of touch" for her comments.

Despite the inflammatory headlines, Badenoch never directly refers to maternity pay as excessive. Instead, she explains that maternity pay is “a function of tax,” which appears to be her main concern.

She states: “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.”

Badenoch further argued that maternity pay could be partly responsible for the closure of small businesses: “The burden of regulation is too high… We need to allow businesses, especially small ones, to make more of their own decisions. The exact amount of maternity pay, in my view, is neither here nor there. We need to make sure we are creating an environment where people can work and have more freedom to make individual decisions.”

However, during a heated exchange with the Times Radio interviewer, her casual dismissal of maternity pay as “neither here nor there” was challenged when the interviewer pointed out, “Well, it’s here, not there, for people who can’t afford to have a baby, isn’t it?”

To which Badenoch replied: “We need to have more personal responsibility. There was a time when there wasn’t any maternity pay and people were having more babies.”

Badenoch later took to social media to clarify her comments, writing: “Contrary to what some have said, I clearly stated that the burden of regulation on businesses had gone too far… Of course, I believe in maternity pay! Watch the clip for the truth.”

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