Kemi Badenoch has insisted she does not think statutory maternity pay is “excessive” as a row over her views overshadowed the first day of the Tories’ annual conference. The leadership contender had appeared to suggest that the amount of money given to new mothers was too much in an interview on Sunday morning.

There was a time when there wasn’t any maternity pay and people were having more babies’. Badenoch confirms she is not opposed to principle of maternity pay, as row over her 'excessive' claim escalates 14:10 Kemi Badenoch has put a post on social media saying she backs the principle of maternity pay.

Tory leadership candidate Kemi Badenoch has suggested maternity pay has "gone too far" and the government needed to interfere less in people's lives. Speaking to Times Radio, Badenoch said statutory maternity pay,