Reform By-Election Candidate Slammed For 'Handmaid's Tale' Suggestion

Reform UK’s candidate for the Gorton and Denton by-election has been criticised after it emerged he previously suggested taxing anyone who does not have children.

An unearthed blog post revealed that Matthew Goodwin once proposed a “negative child benefit tax” on “those who don’t have offspring”.

Labour deputy leader Lucy Powell compared the idea to “something out of the Handmaid’s Tale”, the Margaret Atwood dystopian novel where enslaved women are forced to have children for wealthy couples.

Goodwin’s idea would impact both men and women without kids, but it would hit women particularly hard because the expectation would be on them to fall pregnant.

The by-election candidate also said the government could “remove personal income tax for women who have two or more children” in his 2023 Substack blog.

The former academic and current GB News presenter said these policies are necessary because the “British family is imploding”.

He also proposed bringing back family values to Britain with a “national day” to celebrate parenthood and encouraging the King to send telegrams to parents when they have a third child.

Labour’s deputy leader Lucy Powell tore into the idea, telling The Independent: “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.

“Even more dumfounding is that Nigel Farage appears to agree with it.”

Powell claimed “this is the kind of divisive politics we must stop from getting a foothold in Manchester by defeating Reform’s extreme candidate”.

She added: “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.”

A Reform spokesperson said Goodwin’s remarks are party policy, claiming that this was Labour being “disingenuous once again”.

He added: “This is an idea that was first suggested by the respected demographer Paul Moreland 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 demography 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.”