Reform UK has vowed to lead the most pro-family government in British history with a new law to protect women and motherhood. Announcing its plans for a Women's and Motherhood Protection Act, the party aims to bring together various protections into a single law. It says current protections for women are scattered across different laws, including those covering equal pay, sex discrimination, employment rights and maternity leave.
Under new proposals, the time limit for pregnancy and maternity discrimination claims would be extended to 12 months – up from the current three. The act would also preserve equal pay for the same work, maintain protections against sex discrimination, and strengthen safeguards against dismissal during pregnancy and maternity leave.
Challenges Facing Women
The party says that too many women are still facing challenges in starting a family, returning to work after childbirth, as well as in undergoing fertility treatment or coping with pregnancy loss.
Suella Braverman, the party's education, skills and equalities spokesman, said: "As the first cabinet minister in British history to take maternity leave and as a working mother of two children, I understand the challenges women face when balancing a career and family life. No woman should ever feel that becoming a mother will hold her back or leave her with fewer opportunities ... motherhood should be celebrated, not penalised."
Mrs Braverman said she wanted Britain to be "the best country in the world in which to become a mother, where women can build a successful career and raise a family". She said a Reform government would be "the most pro-woman, pro-mother and pro-family government in British history".
Criticism from Opponents
Claire Coutinho, the Conservative Shadow Equalities Minister, said that Reform "care so little about women’s rights they said they’d scrap the Equality Act without even realising that it protects pregnant women from being sacked." She added: "Their prisons adviser believes men should be put in women's prisons. And today’s plans would leave women who say biological sex is real completely exposed to being harassed and hounded out of their jobs."
Bridget Phillipson, Labour’s minister for women and equalities, said that Nigel Farage "has spent years arguing women don’t need the protections and rights we fought for". Accusing Mr Farage of praising the social media influencer and self-described misogynist, Andrew Tate, she added that she believed Reform UK "have a problem with women". "Tearing up the Equality Act on day one just to replace it with something weaker is a complete waste of time and money," Ms Phillipson added.
