Cameron defends maternity leave plan

David Cameron today defended his plans to make parental leave "completely flexible" by allowing fathers and mothers to take time off together.

Speaking on GMTV, the Conservative leader said that his proposal was about "making Britain more family-friendly and helping couples stay together".

Under government plans, maternity leave is due to be extended to 52 weeks by 2010. After the first 26 weeks, parents can choose whether the mother or the father stays at home.

The Tories, who are today beginning their two-day spring conference in Gateshead, would instead offer flexible parental leave, with parents free to divide up the maternity leave allocation as they want. They say the plans are designed to make Britain the most family-friendly country in the world.

"We're saying let's make it completely flexible. So if Mum and Dad want to take time off together at the beginning let them do that ... don't say that the woman has to take 26 weeks," Cameron said today. Making maternity and paternity leave more flexible could help tackle pay inequalities, he said.

"This could help get over the gender pay gap. Women aren't getting into some of the jobs that are higher paid because they are the ones who are expected to take all the leave when baby comes."

He added: "This is what it's all about, making Britain more family friendly and helping couples stay together ... To me, nothing informs my thinking more than family. To me it's the most important part of society."

Under the Tory plans women would be expected to take leave to be with their baby for the first 14 weeks, because of the recognised benefits for health and bonding of close contact between mother and child in the vital period immediately after the birth.

But the remaining 38 weeks could be split between the parents so the mother could return to work or both could stay at home together for as long as 26 weeks.

The same rights would be extended to the partners of mothers in same-sex relationships, and fathers who stayed at work would still be entitled to their two weeks' paid paternity leave.

The change would allow fathers to be more involved in caring for their child and would help strengthen relationships between new parents by allowing them to look after their baby together.

The business secretary, John Hutton, said that the Tories had a "massive credibility problem" on family policy because they had opposed measures to extend parental rights in the past.

He also claimed that the proposal showed that Cameron did not understand the realities of family life for most ordinary people.

"Whether it is the mother or the father staying at home, the majority of families still need one parent going out to work to pay the bills, so the Tory big idea on the family shows how out of touch they are with hardworking people," Hutton said.

Yesterday Cameron courted controversy by inviting ITV News cameras into the family home to film him with his children.

"People want to know who you are and what you are like and what makes you tick. That's modern politics. You just have to do what you feel comfortable with. If you are trying to put yourself forward and your policies and everything else, people want to know a bit about you ... and your life."

The party claims that 2,000 delegates are expected to turn up today in Gateshead. The conference will kick off with a speech by Boris Johnson, the Conservative candidate for mayor of London.

The shadow chancellor, George Osborne, will make today's keynote speech, and frontbenchers Alan Duncan and David Willetts are also speaking.

Tomorrow, the shadow home secretary, David Davis, will call for more robust policing, and conference party favourite William Hague will rally the party on making a comeback in northern cities in the forthcoming local elections in May, with many of this year's seats up for grabs in Labour heartlands.