Reform UK’s candidate for the forthcoming by-election in Gorton and Denton suggested that people who don’t have children should be taxed extra as punishment, an unearthed blog post has revealed.
In a proposal that has prompted comparisons to dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale – which is set in a society that forces women to bear children in an effort to tackle a fertility crisis – Matt Goodwin suggested imposing a “negative child benefit tax” on “those who don’t have offspring”.
While such a tax would financially impact both men and women, it would disproportionately affect women, putting pressure on them to become pregnant to protect both themselves and their partners from the levy.
Mr Goodwin also suggested that the government “remove personal income tax for women who have two or more children”.
Writing on his Substack blog in 2023, the former university academic and honorary president of the Students4Reform organisation argued that the “British family is imploding”, something he claimed is having “very real and very negative effects on the country around us”.
In a list of proposals designed to reinforce family values in Britain, he suggested: “Creating a pro-family culture by having a national day to celebrate families and parenthood. Symbolising this new culture through things like families receiving a telegram from the King when they have a third child.
“Entrenching the importance of the family in the curriculum. Switching child benefit to incentivise families to have more children. Introducing a ‘negative child benefit’ tax for those who don’t have offspring.
“Sacrificing more land for cheaper family homes. And, in my view, prioritising British families when building new housing developments.”
He added: “These are all things we could be debating and developing right now in Britain, where the collapse of the family has not only become unavoidable but is having very real and very negative effects on the country around us.”
Labour’s deputy leader Lucy Powell told The Independent that a tax on people without children would be punitive for women.
She said: “Matthew Goodwin’s big idea is so ludicrous, you’d be forgiven for thinking this is something out of The Handmaid’s Tale. It would punish millions of women and strip them of their basic dignity to choose.”
In the dystopian drama, fertile women, known as handmaids, are enslaved to bear children for elite couples during a fertility crisis in the US.
Ms Powell added: “Nigel Farage’s Reform are more interested in dividing people, rather than bringing people together.
“This is the kind of divisive politics we must stop from getting a foothold in Manchester by defeating Reform’s extreme candidate. The only way to do that is by voting for Labour in Gorton and Denton. A vote for any other party risks letting Reform in.”
Mr Goodwin was unveiled as Reform UK’s candidate for the forthcoming Gorton and Denton by-election last week. Speaking at the opening of the party’s campaign office on Thursday, Mr Farage claimed the campaign had got off to a “very, very good start”, while polls suggest it is fast becoming a two-horse race between Reform and Labour.
Mr Goodwin, who appears as a presenter on GB News three times a week, sparked criticism last year when he was accused of suggesting that people from minority ethnic backgrounds are not necessarily British, even if they were born in the UK.
Following a mass stabbing on a train in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, Mr Goodwin blamed “mass uncontrolled immigration” in a post on X/Twitter.
After it came to light that the suspect was born in the UK, Mr Goodwin wrote: “So were all of the 7/7 bombers. It takes more than a piece of paper to make somebody ‘British’.”
The comments were described by the Liberal Democrats as “racist rhetoric” and a “disgrace”.
In 2017, Mr Goodwin ate pages from his book, Brexit: Why Britain Voted to Leave the European Union, live on Sky News after he wrongly predicted that Labour would not poll as high as 38 per cent in the general election under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership. The party won 40 per cent of the vote.
A Reform spokesperson said: “This is Labour being disingenuous once again. This is an idea that was first suggested by the respected demographer Paul Morland as part of a range of measures that should be debated and discussed across developed nations if we are serious about dealing with our looming demographic crisis.
“The Labour government has got its head in the sand when it comes to thinking about the long-term challenges facing Britain. We need a grown-up, mature debate about how we can encourage people to have more children and support British families.”