Starmer: I won’t tell people to have more children, even as birth rate falls! B
‘He doesn’t understand basic mathematical problem,’ say critics as PM refuses to join European fertility drive to avert demographic crisis
Sir Keir Starmer has suggested he will not tell people how many children they should have, amid a falling birth rate.
Several European leaders have urged their citizens to have bigger families to help grow their economies and deal with the pressures of ageing populations.
The Prime Minister said it was not his place to “tell people how to live their lives”, despite the fact that his government has brought in a slew of “nanny state” measures such as banning smoking in pub gardens.
Tory MPs said his comments suggested he “doesn’t understand the basic mathematical problem” underpinning slow economic growth and was not being consistent, given his support for other nanny state measures.
The fertility rate in England and Wales is down to 1.49 per woman – well below the 2.1 needed to keep a population steady.
It means there will be fewer workers to care for the ageing population and to pay taxes to keep public services adequately funded.
The Office for Budget Responsibility has warned these pressures could see the national debt 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 trip to Washington DC last week.
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.”
Emmanuel Macron, the French president, has brought in free fertility checks for those aged 18 to 25 to encourage people to have children sooner.
Giorgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister, has set a target of 500,000 births annually, while Hungary’s Viktor Orban has brought in tax breaks for parents in a bid to speed up the birth rate.
National fertility rates set to plummet
Number of births per woman
Miriam Cates, the former Tory MP, said: “It’s very concerning that the Prime Minister doesn’t appear to understand the basic mathematical problem underpinning the UK’s sluggish growth; namely that falling birth rates mean we have fewer and fewer working people supporting growing numbers of pensioners.
“No amount of local business plans or productivity drives are going to change this fundamental fact.
“If the Prime Minister wants growth, he should follow the example of increasing numbers of Western leaders in urgently looking for ways to increase the birth rate.”
Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, the former business secretary, who has six children, said: “Starmer seems incapable of telling the truth.
“He spends his whole time telling people how to live their lives with smoking bans, advertising bans and potentially sugar and salt taxes.
“No one is asking him to tell people how many children to have, all that is being suggested is that he should say having children is a good thing but the old lawyer never wants to give a straight answer.”
