British Chancellor Accused of 'Patronising' Stay-at-Home Mothers

Photo Credit: Getty ImagesThe Chancellor today unveiled a scheme to encourage women back into the workplace by handing up to £1,200 of taxpayer-funded childcare for each child to families where both parents have a job.

He said that he had “huge respect” for stay-at-home mothers and said that the government will “help” their families by introducing tax breaks for married couples.

However Laura Perrins, a stay-at-home mother who took on the Deputy Prime Minister during a radio phone earlier this year, said that the reported £120 tax breaks were “pathetic” compared to the value of childcare vouchers.

She said: “Saying stay-at-home mothers have made a lifestyle choice is pejorative and patronising. They are contributing to the economy, to society, to everything. Staying at home is not a luxury, it’s not a hobby. Women who chose to stay at home make huge sacrifices.

“The married tax allowance is something we have been calling for but their version is pretty pathetic when compared to the childcare vouchers. We pay disproportionately more tax. They [the government] are socially engineering it, they think that stay at home mothers are not conforming to what they want.”