Mother of all insults for working women

THERE is a special place in hell reserved for women who shaft other women. Kemi Badenoch's conclusion that maternity pay is "excessive" and families need to take more "personal responsibility" is to my mind a toxic blend of patronising misogyny.

- Vanessa Feltz

How can the wannabe Tory leader genuinely believe that working mothers, receiving 90 per cent of their average pay for the pitifully brief six weeks, followed by £184.03 or 90 per cent of their average weekly earnings (whichever is lower) for a further 33 weeks, is over-generous? These women are a vital part of the workforce.

They have had their shoulders to the wheel and hands to the pump. They are not reclining indolently upon lavishly upholstered chaise longues imagining the world owes them a living. They do not need Badenoch or anyone else to tell them to take "personal responsibility".