No wonder Britain isn’t having more babies

Onward Director Sebastian Payne wrote in The Times about why Britain desperately needs a new deal for parents.  He writes:

‘Here in the UK, the number of children being born has sunk to its lowest level for two decades. There have been some peaks and troughs but the trend is clear: steady decline. It is the same in France, Canada and the United States. Reader, you might think, what on earth does it have to do with me, the state, or anyone, in fact? It is naturally up to individuals whether or not to have children. Yet woeful policymaking means the state is artificially stifling families.

Some Conservatives see tackling the shrinking number of newborns as a moral crusade. But for all Conservatives, a better perspective is that governments are failing in their duty to provide families choices. The costs of having children are causing Britons to delay having kids or to have fewer than they would like. One survey found that just under half of women in Britain said they were delaying having children due to their fears about finances.’

Read the full article here.