Kennedy: Family policies unveiled

The Liberal Democrats have made a play for the parental vote with a pledge to give new working mums £170 a week following the birth of their child.

Under a Lib Dem government, new mothers would secure a "maternity income guarantee" of £4,420 during the first 26 weeks of parenthood.

Around 200,000 working women have their first baby every year - with the party saying majority would be "significantly better off".

Father-to-be Charles Kennedy said the policy amounted to a "solid base for working women".

He said this would benefit every woman earning less than £22,000 a year -  with a woman on £14,000 receiving more than £900 extra over the 26-week period.

Boost

"Today we put in place a new policy which is an important part of the childcare jigsaw - helping working mothers in the first months after the birth," he said.

"We are proposing a radical reform of maternity pay provision for the first born child: a reform which will particularly benefit women on low-incomes."

Kennedy insisted that new parents should not be encumbered by money worries when they are brining up their new-born .

"It will help to prevent this most exciting of times for new parents being marred by the financial worry that can so often accompany it," he added.

"For single mothers, for low income families, for all working women who want the best for their new family, the choice of our maternity income guarantee will reward them with a working wage for the first six months of their first child's life."