UK politics live: Kemi Badenoch insists she believes in maternity pay as Tory rivals jump on ‘excessive’ claim
Badenoch suggests current maternity leave pay may be too generous at the Conservative Party conference
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Kemi Badenoch has sparked controversy after describing maternity pay as “excessive” and calling for greater personal responsibility.
In an interview with Times Radio, the Tory leadership hopeful argued that government intervention on issues like the maternity benefit had gone “too far”, placing a burden on businesses.
Ms Badenoch’s remarks have drawn fierce criticism, with union bosses and campaigners condemning them as “out of touch” and “another example of dog-whistle politics”.
Reacting to the comments, rival candidate Tom Tugendhat said he did not know the context of Ms Badenoch’s claims but that it is important for women to have the ability to choose, while Robert Jenrick said the party should be “firmly on the side of parents and working mums”.
It comes after the shadow secretary defended her claim that there has been a recent rise in the number of migrants coming to the UK who “hate Israel”.
She said in a newspaper op-ed on Sunday that migrants’ “feet may be in the UK, but their heads and hearts are still back in their country of origin.” But when she was asked on Sky News if she was referring to Muslim immigrants, Ms Badenoch disagreed.
The Independent’s political team will be reporting live throughout the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham.
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‘I’m not an uncritical friend of Israel,’ Jenrick insists
The final Tory leadership candidate to speack with Trevor Phillips has also addressed the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
While is Jenrick considered one of the strongest supporters of Israel among the candidates, he insisted that he is “not an uncritical friend” of Israel.
He told Sky News that it is right to stand by the “only democracy in the Middle East”, but it must be done in “sensible steps” to reduce the loss of life.
Badenoch attacks migrants ‘living in their little bubbles'
The former minister has now turned her attack towards the “lack of integration” claiming it is a “recipe for disaster”.
Ms Badenoch said: “People who come here should want to live in Britain, they want to love the country.
“They should want to contribute and wanted to succeed. We are not a dormitory. This is our home. People from all around the world just living here in their little bubbles and little groups is a recipe for disaster.
“I have seen it. I told you. I grew up in a country with 300 ethnic groups. This is a recipe for conflict, and the government needs to work hard on integration. You can’t just sit back and say, well, as long as you get a good job and don’t commit crimes, that’s fine.”
Badenoch grilled over ‘immigrants who hate Israel’ claim
The Tory hopeful has been pressed over her comments about “immigrants who hate Israel” on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.
The shadow business secretary said: “I know what you’re trying to do. Laura, you want me to say Muslims, but it isn’t all Muslims. So I’m not going to do that. I’m not going to play this game.
“I should be able to say that I have made an observation without you trying to portray it as me attacking a particular group.”
She added: “I talked about people ripping down posters. We saw who was doing it. We read about cases.”
Badenoch: People bringing views to UK that aren’t welcome
Kemi Badenoch has doubled down on her attack towards migrants, claiming that many people coming to the UK have brought views that “have no place here”.
She told the BBC: “I actually think it’s extraordinary that people think that’s an unusual or controversial thing to say, of course, not all cultures very flat. I don’t believe in cultural relativism.
“I believe in western values, the principles which have made this country great. And I think that we need to make sure that we continue to abide by those principles to keep the society that we have now.”
The Tory contender said during her time as an equalities minister she say people bringing cultural disputes from India “to the streets of Leicester”.
Citing her time on the election trail, Ms Badenoch said: “You’d knock on doors and you see somebody at the door who says ‘I can’t speak to you, I will get my husband’.”
Tory leadership contender: ‘it’s not all Muslim immigrants’ who hate Israel
Kemi Badenoch has said she was struck by how many immigrants hated Israel.
Asked whether she was referring to all Muslim immigrants, the Tory MP told Sky News: “Because it’s not all Muslims, and this is what I don’t do. I’m very careful when I speak.
“I’ve met many Muslim people who love Israel. I’ve met them in the Middle East, when I went to Saudi, when I went to the UAE, you know, you look at the Abrahamic Middle East.
“It is not all Muslims, but there are some who buy into Islamist ideology, political Islam. They do not like us.”
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