Ex-Reform candidate Matt Goodwin suggests people without children should pay more for their mortgages

The former Reform candidate, who previously suggested childless people should pay more tax, said they would now also be able to pay more on mortgages.

Matt Goodwin, who was defeated by Green MP Hannah Spencer in by-elections in Gorton and Denton earlier this year. IndependentThe news, which revealed that he had previously proposed the implementation of a “negative child benefit tax” on “those who do not have children”, was a proposal that led to comparisons with dystopian novels. The Handmaid’s Tale.

Independent It also revealed Mr Goodwin called for a “biological reality” check on women and young girls as he gave his views on how the UK should deal with its looming “fertility crisis”.

In his latest post on the Substack blog, he accused “leftist media” of “making a false claim to derail our campaign among female voters.”

“If there’s anything the liberal class loves more than debating ideas, it’s inventing arguments their opponents never make,” he said.

“For example, the claim that I want to live in a world where childless women pay much higher taxes. Gorton and Denton byelection.”

While he denied wanting to tax childless people more, the same blog post appeared to suggest they should pay more for mortgages than those with two or more children.

“Personally, I wouldn’t go so far as to recommend higher taxes on childless women,” he said.

“This was just one of several ideas put forward by a leading demographer that I just said we should discuss.

“But I think we need to introduce comprehensive tax cuts and other benefits for women who choose to have children, particularly British women and families who choose to have more than two.”

He added: “I want to go further. Why don’t we prioritize British families with more than two children when it comes to housing and offer them much more affordable mortgage rates?”

The former academic, who faced criticism earlier this year after using artificial intelligence to help write his latest book, insisted that “as the son of a single mother and the father of a daughter, I will always be among the first to defend women’s rights and choices.”

“Women should always be able to choose what to do with their own bodies. End of story,” she added.

“I’m also intimately aware that some women who desperately want to have children struggle with infertility. I want to make it clear how much I empathize with these women. Because I really do.”

Responding to his remarks, Labor Party leader Anna Turley said: Independent: “Matt Goodwin’s proposal for higher mortgage rates for women with fewer than two children is shocking but unfortunately not surprising.”

He pointed to Reform’s candidate in the Makerfield by-election, claiming Reform was “in shape for this sort of thing”.

Rob Kenyon “made vile comments about women, admitted he was sexist and refused to apologise”, he said, insisting the party was “not on the side of women”.

Mr Kenyon faced a huge backlash after a series of now-deleted comments he made about women online during the Makerfield campaign resurfaced, including his claim that women “can’t make references, drive or give directions”.

Earlier this year it was revealed that Mr Goodwin had used his blog to suggest that extra tax should be paid to people without children.

While such a tax would financially impact both men and women, it would disproportionately affect women and put pressure on them to get pregnant to protect both themselves and their partners from the tax.

Independent It also reported on a clip unearthed from Mr Goodwin’s personal YouTube channel in November 2024, showing the old academic warning that “the age at which many women in Britain have children is too late”.

Mr Goodwin argued in the video: “We need to explain and educate young children – future generations – about the seriousness of this crisis.

“We also need to explain to young girls and women the biological reality of this crisis. Many women in Britain are having children too late and are choosing to have children much earlier.”

In a separate clip from a podcast he recorded with controversial right-wing philosopher Jordan Peterson, Mr. Goodwin also appeared to accept the host’s claim that universities “have become hotbeds of politically correct authoritarianism” because they are full of “childless women.”

When you approach him Independent, Mr Goodwin blasted the publication as “another lazy gig” and added: “The principle that the state should help families with more children is already well established in Britain and elsewhere.

“I propose that instead of giving this aid to just anyone, we should give it to British families, especially those with large numbers of children, just as France, Sweden, Finland, Hungary, Poland and Denmark already provide aid to their own people.”