By Daniel Martin
Bridget Phillipson has urged Britons to have more children because of the “worrying repercussions” of a plummeting birth rate.
In an apparent shift in government policy, the Education Secretary said too many young people were put off having families because of the huge cost of housing and childcare.
She said her childcare plans would encourage people to have children who otherwise would have rejected the idea.
In an article for The Telegraph, Ms Phillipson wrote: “I want more young people to have children, if they so choose.”
Several European leaders have called for their citizens to have bigger families to help grow their economies and deal with the pressures of ageing populations.
Last year, Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, brought in free fertility checks for those aged 18 to 25 to encourage people to have children sooner, while Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s prime minister, set a target of 500,000 births per year.
But last year, Sir Keir Starmer said it was not his place to tell people how many children to have, or to set out a national “birth plan”.
The fertility rate in England and Wales is down to 1.49 babies per woman, well below the 2.1 needed to keep a population steady.
The lower birth rate means there will be fewer workers to care for the elderly and to keep public services adequately funded through their taxes.
In her article, Ms Phillipson said too many young couples were scared to have children because of the high costs involved.
She said: “A generation of young people have been thinking twice about starting a family; worried not only about rising mortgage and rent repayments, wary not only of the price of fuel and food but also put off by a childcare system simultaneously lacking in places and ruinously expensive.”
The Education Secretary said Britain’s falling birth rate represented a “trend which has worrying repercussions for society in the future but tells a story, heartbreakingly, about the dashed dreams of many families”.
‘Support for families’
Ms Phillipson wrote: “I want to begin to tell a different story. I have always believed that politics is about giving everyone, particularly the most disadvantaged in our country, the freedom to choose their own path in life.
“It’s why I want more young people to have children, if they so choose; to realise the ordinary aspiration so many share, to create the moments and memories that make our lives fulfilling: having children, seeing them take their first steps, dropping them off at their first day at school, guiding them on their journey into the world of work or taking them to university for the first time.
“It’s why this Labour Government believes that support for families matters right from the start, and why I have made improving our early years system my number one priority…”
She added that the Government would go further to address the declining birth rate after “a decade of government that believed in bemoaning Britain’s present rather than building its future”. She said this was why spaces for childcare would open in empty classrooms across the UK.
Ms Phillipson announced that the Government was on track to exceed its target to deliver more than 4,000 new school-based childcare places this September.
There are nearly 200 schools where the new rooms for childcare will be open in two months’ time – more than expected.
The Office for Budget Responsibility last year warned that Britain’s falling birth rate could cause the national debt to soar over the next 50 years.
It said deaths would consistently outnumber births in Britain from the middle of the next decade, leaving the country dependent on migration to avoid a falling population.
Sir Keir was asked whether Britons should have more children during a foreign trip in September.
He replied: “I’ve spent my whole time saying I’m not going to tell people how to live their lives – I’m not going to start by dictating whether they should or shouldn’t have children.”
Asked whether he thought the birth rate needed to rise, the Prime Minister said: “I think there are a number of ways of growing the economy.
“When I said local growth plans, I actually had in mind plans led by mayors, local businesses, local representatives, not the birth plan.
“So I think growing the economy can be solved by local growth plans, by stabilising the economy and all the measures we’ve already set out – but I’m not going to lead a, sort of, birth plan.”
How we break Britain’s barriers to starting a family
By Bridget Phillipson
We’re creating more nursery places so young people can realise their dream of starting a family.
Over the last generation, the foundations of family life have changed entirely in our country. Over three quarters of mothers of dependent children are now in paid work, a fact we should all welcome: it means better living standards for families right across the country.
But at the same time, the cost of living has soared, dominated by the vast increase in the cost of housing.
A generation of young people has been thinking twice about starting a family; worried not only about rising mortgage and rent costs, wary not only of the price of fuel and food but also put off by a childcare system simultaneously lacking in places and ruinously expensive.
It is the sorry legacy of a Conservative government which spent 14 years railing against Britain’s problems rather than tackling any of them, that claimed to be the party of family while whittling down the pillars of support on which planning for a family depends.
Reform, like the Conservatives, offer only back-of-a-fag-packet solutions that crumble under the slightest scrutiny. Their latest bout of make-believe budgeting would plunge families back into the financial insecurity they faced after Liz Truss and drive the dream of starting a family even further into the distance.
No opposition party has the answers to our plummeting birth rate – a trend which has worrying repercussions for society in the future, but tells a story, heartbreakingly, about the dashed dreams of many families.
I want to begin to tell a different story. I have always believed that politics is about giving everyone, particularly the most disadvantaged in our country, the freedom to choose their own path in life.
It’s why I want more young people to have children, if they so choose; to realise the ordinary aspiration so many share, to create the moments and memories that make our lives fulfilling: having children, seeing them take their first steps, dropping them off at their first day at school, guiding them on their journey into the world of work or taking them to university for the first time.
It’s why this Labour Government believes that support for families matters right from the start, and why I have made improving our early years system my number-one priority.
That means families are able to access the services and advice they need from day one, whether that’s support with breastfeeding, advice on reading with children or boosting their language development.
More money on making memories
And we are well on the way to that better system, delivering the ordinary hopes and dreams of thousands of families just a year in government. From the wreckage the Tories left behind, we put together a plan to deliver an ambitious expansion of childcare entitlements.
This package will give children the very best start while slashing costs for families. Less cash spent on childcare in the week, and more money to spend on making new memories each weekend. Life chances for children, work choices for parents.
We want more certainty for parents that the costs are manageable; more optimism that their children will get the better chances on which they might have missed out. That means tackling the childcare deserts the Tories created.
In our first year, I have taken decision after decision to secure that ambition. The Early Years Pupil Premium has been raised sharply to drive extra provision in the places – and for the families – who need extra funded places now. The rate providers receive for each hour of childcare they deliver has been increased.
We are also going further – the falling birth rate we face, after a decade of a government that believed in bemoaning Britain’s present rather than building its future, means that suitable spaces for childcare are opening up in empty classrooms across our country.
We are using that opportunity to open a new wave of school-based nurseries, first in areas of the North and Midlands where economic growth and parental opportunity are most desperately needed, but where a decade of inaction means childcare places are most stretched.
And today, I can tell parents that we are on track to deliver more funded childcare places this September than we first anticipated – delivering on our Plan for Change, delivering the better life chances the country demands, and making real the ordinary hopes of thousands of people aspiring to have children.
Families are the bedrock of our society, and we need them to succeed. As Education Secretary, I am determined that we support every child, in every family, in every part of the country, the very best start in life. It’s right for them, right for their parents, and right for our country.
Bridget Phillipson is the Education Secretary and Member of Parliament for Houghton and Sunderland South