Lynne Featherstone, the Liberal Democrat equalities minister, has condemned proposals to dilute family-friendly policies. Photograph: Rui Vieira/PA.

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David Cameron urged to abandon 'hideous' plans to cut maternity rights

Equalities minister Lynne Featherstone warns prime minister against ditching family-friendly policies

Lynne Featherstone, the Liberal Democrat equalities minister, has condemned proposals to dilute family-friendly policies. Photograph: Rui Vieira/PA.

David Cameron was warned on Sunday to abandon "hideous" plans to restrict maternity rights amid a cabinet split on trimming back regulation as Britain struggles to recover from the global economic downturn.

Lynne Featherstone, the Liberal Democrat equalities minister, launched an attack on a venture capitalist who has been asked by Cameron to examine which regulations can be cut.

The prime minister commissioned Adrian Beecroft to assess how to reduce the burden on businesses which claim that excessive regulations are hampering their ability to recover from the worst downturn since the 1930s.

It is understood that Beecroft is planning to recommend scaling back plans to give couples greater freedom to co-ordinate maternity and paternity leave.

Nick Clegg is lining up with other cabinet ministers to resist the Beecroft plans which are expected to receive a warm reception in the Treasury.

Featherstone made clear that the Lib Dems would not tolerate any watering down of maternity rights. "Whatever is in this Beecroft report, I think, will be swiftly swept away," the Lib Dem Home Office minister told the Observer.

"These are hideous suggestions … What I would say about them is that it would be absolutely extraordinary if we were to abandon our commitment to those flagship policies.

"It is absolutely vital that we deliver on our rhetoric around family-friendly issues. I wouldn't support that, Nick [Clegg] wouldn't support that, and quite frankly David Cameron was campaigning last year on being the most family-friendly government. I would be very surprised if he supported that."

Featherstone was also scathing about Steve Hilton, the prime minister's policy guru, who has been critical of maternity pay. "Well, I might talk about scrapping Steve Hilton," she said.

The Financial Times reported in June that Hilton had suggested that maternity rights actually worked against women. "Steve thinks that they are the biggest obstacle to women finding work, because companies know they are required by law to offer maternity leave," one Whitehall source told the FT.

The newspaper suggested that consumer rights were hampering the economic recovery. "[Steve] also wanted to suspend all consumer rights legislation for nine months to see what would happen," the source told the FT. "Some of his ideas are great but a lot of time is spent at an official level trying to deconstruct his maddest thoughts."

The row over maternity rights highlights a dilemma facing Downing Street amid signs that Britain faces sluggish growth for the foreseeable future. On one side, the prime minister faces intense pressure from business to ease the burden of regulation. On the other side polling shows that women, particularly those lower down the income scale, are abandoning the coalition as the spending cuts begin to bite.

An internal Downing Street memo, leaked to the Guardian last month, showed that officials have drawn up a series of proposals to win back women and to show that the prime minister is still committed to leading the "most family-friendly government ever". These include introducing personal budgets for maternity services to allow women to shop around for services.

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 765