Fertility rate drop means Gov should PAY people like me to have more kids – or open the door to even more immigration

SHOCKING new stats show that fertility rates in England and Wales are at their lowest since records began.

This is despite the number of women of child-bearing age being at its highest ever.

By the Nineties, families were still lively — with sitcom 2point4 Children named after the then number of kids in the traditional nuclear family[/caption]

How do we expect to fund things, build stuff and keep Britain moving if the pool of future workers is drying up so quickly?

Which brings me to my second point.

The only way we can cope with a shrinking number of taxpayers and an ageing population if we do not have enough kids is by importing the workforce from elsewhere.

Cue an even bigger disaster than we are already facing.

Net migration hit a peak of 764,000 in 2022, with the figure being 685,000 in 2023.

That is a total net migration figure larger than the population of Birmingham in just two years.

We have already seen the levels of social tension and political turmoil this has caused.

Do we honestly think Brits will accept doubling, or even tripling, those numbers just to plug the gap left by an absence of homegrown talent?

We also need tax breaks for first-time parents to give them a financial boost when starting families

Mercy

So, what’s the answer?

I say it is time to roll out the red carpet for families.

Quite frankly, the Government should be paying ME for having children.

How about completely free childcare for the first two kids?

Childcare costs remain through the roof and government has only tinkered around the edges in terms of helping families on this front.

Or you could sort out our statutory maternity pay, which is some of the worst in Europe.

After the first six weeks of maternity leave, mums in the UK are only entitled to a measly £184 a week, whereas other countries, such as Bulgaria and Sweden, virtually guarantee full pay for a year.

We also need tax breaks for first-time parents to give them a financial boost when starting families.

The tax burden is already at record highs, and families feel the pinch even more acutely.

Social Armageddon

Why is the Government not doing everything it can to make sure that it makes financial sense to start a family?

I can already hear the distant cries from those who will be sceptical at throwing money at this problem — “Where is the magic money tree?”

The simple answer is that the amount of spending needed to tackle this problem is nothing but pennies compared to the economic and social Armageddon we will face in the future if we let the population fall off a cliff edge.

The Government will be laying out its spending priorities today in its first Budget.

In a few days, we will also have a new leader of the Opposition.

Now is the perfect time for both parties to show they are serious about getting Britain birthing again.

Our entire future quite literally depends on it.