Kemi Badenoch has insisted she does not think statutory maternity pay is “excessive” as a row over her views overshadowed the first day of the Tories’ annual conference. The leadership contender had appeared to suggest that the amount of money given to new mothers was too much in an interview on Sunday morning.

Statutory maternity pay is “excessive” and the red tape around the benefit has “gone too far”, Kemi Badenoch has suggested.

We need to have more personal responsibility - there was a time when there wasn’t any maternity pay and people were having more babies." Badenoch later said that sh

There was a time when there wasn’t any maternity pay and people were having more babies’. Kemi Badenoch remains the clear favourite amongst Tory members to be next leader, according to the latest survey of members from the ConservativeHome website.

Robert Jenrick said that the party should be ‘firmly on the side of parents’ in the wake of Ms Badenoch’s interview.

Conservative leadership hopeful Kemi Badenoch has said she does believe in maternity pay hours after calling on people to have ‘more personal responsibility’ over the benefit. The former business secretary told Times Radio this morning: ‘There was a time when there wasn’t any maternity pay and people were having more babies.