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Tory leadership candidate Kemi Badenoch has suggested maternity pay has "gone too far" and the government needed to interfere less in people's lives.

Speaking to Times Radio, Badenoch said statutory maternity pay, set up to support mothers for 39 weeks after having a baby, is a "function of tax" which she called "excessive".

She added that "the exact amount of maternity pay in my view is neither here nor there", adding: “We need to have more personal responsibility - there was a time when there wasn’t any maternity pay and people were having more babies."

She later said she had been "misrepresented", and she was making a wider comment about cutting regulatory burdens on business.

In a Badenoch, who is shadow housing secretary, said: "Of course maternity pay isn’t excessive…no mother of 3 kids thinks that."

In a video accompanying her post, she said she was interrupted with a question about maternity pay while she was discussing regulatory burdens on business.

Statutory maternity pay starts at 90% of average weekly earnings for six weeks - then falls to the lowest of either £184.03 or 90% of the mother's average salary for 33 weeks.

In the interview with Times Radio, Badenoch was asked if she thought maternity pay was at the right level.

She said: "Maternity pay varies, depending on who you work for - but statutory maternity pay is a function of tax, tax comes from people who are working.

"We’re taking from one group of people and giving to another. This, in my view, is excessive.

"Businesses are closing, businesses are not starting in the UK, because they say that the burden of regulation is too high."

She was then asked if this meant "maternity pay is excessive".

Badenoch said: "I think it's gone too far - too far the other way in terms of general business regulation."

She added that "the exact amount of maternity pay in my view is neither here nor there."

"We need to make sure that we are creating an environment where people can work and people can have more freedom to make their individual decisions."

She added: "It has got to a point where government has become about technocratic micro policy management. That is not what is going to get this country growing."

Later, , Badenoch posted: "Contrary to what some have said, I clearly said the burden of regulation on businesses had gone too far… of course I believe in maternity pay!"

According to Lord Michael Ashcroft's biography of Badenoch, she resigned instead of taking maternity leave as head of digital operations at the Spectator.

Fellow Tory leadership candidate Robert Jenrick said he did "not agree with Kemi on this one".

Speaking at the Conservative party conference, Jenrick said: "I am a father of three young daughters - I want to see them get the support that they need when they enter the workplace."

“Our maternity pay is among the lowest in the OECD. I think the Conservative Party should be firmly on the side of parents and working mums who are trying to get by.

“Nobody says it is easy having kids, why would we want to make it harder?"

Responding to Badenoch's comments, Tom Tugendhat said: "I'm not going to tell people how to run their lives and how to share different caring responsibilities."

Tugendhat, who is also running to be the next leader of the party, said: "I think maternity and paternity care are very important.

"One of the things I missed out on, years ago is we didn't have the same rights on paternity care and I think many of us, fathers would have loved to spend more time with our kids."

The fourth Tory leadership candidate, James Cleverly, also rejected Badenoch's claims.

He said: "When it comes to working mothers the cost of childcare is too expensive.

'Dog-whistle politics'

"It was government meddling that made it expensive.

"Let's make childcare cheaper so that mums who want to can go back to work and can afford to do so.”

Joeli Brearley, founder of campaign group Pregnant Then Screwed, said it was "absolute nonsense" to suggest businesses were closing because of statutory maternity pay, because they could recoup the cost from HMRC.

"Statutory maternity pay (SMP) is absolutely vital. Most families need two incomes to survive, and so without SMP, women would be forced to return to work almost immediately after giving birth.

"Conservatives are meant to be the party of family - this statement from Badenoch is yet another example of dog-whistle politics that would actively damage families, businesses and society as a whole," she added.