Why do Tories keep carrying on about families having ‘too many children’?
Tories know they can always blame the poor for the family poverty that has skyrocketed under their policies of benefit denial and wage depression.
I’ll answer that straight away: because it pushes responsibility onto the parents, rather than on governments that cause the poor economic conditions that push families into poverty.
There are certainly situations in which people may be said to be having too many children.
Any parents having families of four or five children while unemployed and with little likelihood of gaining work that could cover the costs of looking after them would be in such a situation.
And there is an argument that some teenagers become single mothers in order to benefit from the system, although This Writer does not believe that is true of most cases; the far more likely reason is that their relationships fell apart.
Some couples have large families because their religion demands it. Are the Tories proposing a new crusade against Catholicism in the UK?
And of course – underlying all of the bluster, there’s the fact that childbirth in the UK is falling, and families with the average number of children are also struggling.
This is a serious issue because it means that in the future the UK’s economy, with fewer earners, will be unable to sustain its support for (to give one topical example) pensioners.
One stop-gap answer to that problem is to bring in immigrant workers who boost the economy by paying tax into the system like everybody else. But the Tories are putting a stop to all that with Brexit.
Another solution would be to increase the wages of the people who take home the least in pay.
But Tories like Councillor Mike Bird would never accept that; it would stop them or their industrialist/business friends from accruing fabulous amounts of cash they can never spend, putting it into offshore bank accounts where it will do nothing but attract even more cash in interest payments.
And people like Cllr Bird know what they are doing. The know they are contradicting themselves.
But they also know that people don’t think about that. They only hear the divisive “blame the poor; blame benefit claimants” rhetoric.
And that is how they get away with it.
A Tory councillor said families are suffering from food poverty because they have too many children.
Councillor Mike Bird made the incendiary remarks during a debate about the need of food banks in Walsall on Monday.
The leader of the town’s ruling Conservative administration said that families in areas such as Palfrey, where food poverty is higher than other parts of district, tended to have larger families they could not afford.
“The crux of that is you can only have what you can afford. The root cause of this on many occasions is that the family is too big.”
Source: Tory councillor says poverty ’caused by families having kids they can’t afford’ – Mirror Online
Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Here are four ways to be sure you’re among the first to know what’s going on.
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (in the left margin). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
The Livingstone Presumption is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
Prior to 1948 large families were subjected to attrition by polio, whooping cough, TB, smallpox and other very unpleasant endemic diseases. Such families had to have enough older children to support the elderly. Of course then Nye Beavan founded the Welfare State and NHS so the risk of endemic diseases started to reduce. Just after my birth (yes, I’m a Baby Boomer) I was given more than nine vaccinations, with many follow-ups during my infanthood. In fact the last “compulsory” shot I got as a schoolboy was the BCG at 12. Baby Boomers? Apparently there were many births celebrating the finish of WWII. As for current incentives for increasing family sizes, I can’t really say as many factors seem to have been involved, not just Catholicism – and yes I’m a lapsed Catholic, without any kids.
Good point about the attrition by unpleasant diseases – and lots of the ‘Victorian’ diseases have returned over the last 10 years, due to Conservative government policies, of course.
All part of the plan, you can be sure!
Most families that use food banks have, or recently have had, a member in full-time employment. But increasing numbers are in low -paid, insecure jobs. Such jobs are likely to increase now the Tories are in power.
So many families make decisions about the number of children in much better financial circumstances than they eventually find themselves in.
Let’s think of households where at least one earner works for John Lewis or Debenhams or some other struggling High St shop.
Suddenly, these “Blue chip ” companies don’t look so successful. Wages are not increasing, some shops may close and the customers don’t have much cash anyway.
Nothing in this dire scenario involves poor choices or decisions by the workers involved. But the capitalist system is in crisis and is deliberately dumping the pain and loss onto the workforce in the form of redundancies or lower wages. Then the Tory Party carries out its ideological role of blaming the victims for their fate.
People have sex, children are born, that’s life. There are also people with few or no children that are having to use foodbanks. And I think I’m right in saying that it’s not only Catholics who are opposed to using contraceptives, but Muslims too, unless I’m mistaken?
I don’t know. I did know about Catholics.
OK
SORRY MIKE /HIT THE WRONG BUTTON…..
No worries!
grrrrrrrrrr . comp playing up. its not me after all…… trying to say. half the problem of large families kids being conceived whilst the parents are on benefits is boredom i suspect. what are they suppsed to do? they probably cant afford a tv licence. computer. portable dvd player etc. most families live out of town. … when my kids were young, even though we were on benefits off and on . or low waged jobs otherwise, we could take them to museums,parks, swimming. etc we couldnt afford cinemas even then, or theatres or the like but most museums were free, we only had to get to them but bus fares were farely cheap specially the family day rovers . there were local museums though within walking distance and parks. swimming was reserved for holidays. we made sure we had enough money for such things during the school holidays. otherwise kids had to play in the garden or outdoor areas nearby. these days you cant let your kids play outside your back garden (thats if youve even got a garden. so many live in flats and dont have a confined safe space like that. parks arent vry safe these days. museums etc cost the earth now n bus fares are collosal. cost of living at an all time high. what are they supposed to do? they stay in bed so they dont use extra fuel, assuming they have fuel.,, i wont go into what inevitably happens.im sure anyone can work that out themselves. possibly a trip to a family planning clinic is by bus too. so even if they get free condoms etc. unless the wife is on the pill.they probably cant afford to get there. and believe me the last thing you think of when worrying bout bills etc is the consequences if your not prepared…….. nuff said. i know people will come up with excuses as to why this SHOULDN’T happen but it does. a lot of whats happening these days SHOULDNT happen but it too does. most of the auaterity measures this govt brought in or continue to use. should not be used but they are.
Britain is the sixth-richest country in the world, and can surely afford to support the people who created that wealth in their old age?
Britain is a small island, with only enough land to grow 60% of the food we need; we can’t afford to build on greenfield for that reason, nor for our mental well-being.
The planet Earth is FINITE; but to INFINITELY expand the economies of the nations of the world by increasing populations to produce + consume commodities, will exhaust Earth’s FINITE resources including cool air, + will destroy us all, and the planet itself.
The world no longer needs to continue expanding economies to fund innovation, because (apart from medical science) we have more than enough new tech and new varieties of shampoo.
“Alexa, peel me a grape!”
Women of the world and of Britain have somehow colluded in bringing the birthrate below replacement level; and I thank them for it.
With the population of the planet reduced to maybe 10% of today’s level, we could forget about global warming, over-crowding, road-building; and revert to consumption patterns that we are now having to abandon in order to survive, if we really wanted to.
There would then be sufficient land for large-scale rewilding.
Regards
So you’re keen on all that New World Order nonsense – governments deliberately cutting the working-class population by inflicting war, pestilence, famine and the like on them (hmm, where have I seen those put together before)?
I’m not so fond of the idea. How about finding a way that doesn’t kill us all/gives us a choice?
“One World; One Class; Workers, Throw Off Your Chains”
“On resolving the Contradictions Amongst the People” –
Extra-parliamentary Left + Right (gilets-jaunes etc) AGAINST the globalist, war-mongering, neo-liberal, pro-global-warming, theocracy-promoting “moderate” centre!
“Let 100 Flowers Bloom; Let 100 Schools of Thought Contend” Confucius
“A woman’s right to do what she wants with her body” – I hope she will be responsible; looks like that is now the case
I hope that the global warming catastrophe that is upon us will not dissuade women from having a child if they want to; I fathered two – a wonderful experience!
The decent, tolerant, conservative, folks will hopefullly put the world to rights by conserving the good and replacing the bad
Do we need to reform our democratic systems at every level so that decisions made by our alleged representatives are run past their electorates (us/ME) for democratic approval/rejection?
(Got it off my chest at 3.00 this morning after one bottle of extra-dry Riesling (Remain) + a single malt!)
Let’s get on with it!
Regards
Our education system is a mess and underfunded or given to asset stripping academies. Better education people have less children. Is there a correlation here? Also all these right wingers want to put a stop to sex education and abortion, then wonder why people have so many children?
Muslims can and do control the amount of children they have, many don’t out of ignorance or by following hadith that have not been approved. The only thing you can’t do is stop it permanently by having your tubes tied or a vasectomy.
Quit the nonsense about Catholics. Your views are about 100 years out of date. I was born into a Catholic family, 12 years after the end of WW2. I was the first of 3 children. I attended Catholic primary and Grammar schools – full of other Catholic children. We were all from families of 2 or 3 or 4 children – 4 was considered a large family. My father, born 1918 was 1 of 3.
As a child, teenager and in my twenties, when people found I came from a Catholic family, the first question was always ‘How many brothers and sisters do you have?’ I told the truth and was never believed.
I stopped being a Catholic when I was 18. I have little time for the Catholic church. However, I dislike seeing such out-of-date false info. being peddled about Catholic people. The pope may still encourage large families but Catholics in the UK ignore him. Contraception is used and has been for a very long time.
Who says they’re my views? You quote people you know who have such views themselves.
As it happens, I do have family members who are Catholic, and from large families (five children and seven, respectively). But I’m not jumping to conclusions.
I’d appreciate it if you followed my example.
Whatever!
We are. under no obligation to do the same when we are of the age to produce children
My maternal grandmother spawned five; and two of her daughters produced three (she was C of E = Christenings, marriages, funerals only)
Catholic friends in Belgium had two, from each family. Somehow, they manage to be more liberal than I am
Statistics show that U.K. + world birthrate is falling, apart from sub-Saharan Africa
The birther globalist centre seem to want us to have more children in order to make more workers/consumers (same thing) to INFINITELY expand the world’s economy – but the world is FINITE…
Two relevant sites:
“Population Matters” Sir David Attenborough, Chair
“Change.org” petitions – challenge greenfield speculative building + just about anything else you might object to (+ those who hold the opposite view) Why not start a petition? Surprisingly, they often succeed! Working class democracy or what? Erm…
Regards
And why won’t Boris Johnstone say just how many children he has is it because he has that many affairs and had a child with them and he is clearly not interested and pays them hush money to stay quiet.