Prime Minister rules out UK 'birth plan' after ageing population warning

Sir Keir Starmer says he will not start "dictating" how many children people should have, following a warning about the UK's ageing population.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said last week that the UK's finances were on an "unsustainable" path due to demographic pressures.

The government will need to spend more on health and pensions to support a growing number of older people, according to the fiscal watchdog.

Meanwhile, the UK's falling birth rate means there are not enough young people entering employment and paying taxes.

The Prime Minister says growing the economy is his "number one mission", but insisted that did not stretch to telling people to have more children.

"I think there are a number of ways of growing the economy," said Sir Keir.

"When I said local growth plans I actually had in mind plans led by mayors, local businesses, local representatives, not the birth plan.

"So I think growing the economy can be solved by local growth plans, by stabilising the economy and all the measures we've already set out - but I'm not going to lead a, sort of, birth plan.

He added: “I've spent my whole time saying I'm not going to tell people how to live their lives - I'm not going to start by dictating whether they should or shouldn't have children."

The Prime Minister has warned of "painful" decisions to deal with what he calls "a £22 billion black hole" in the country's finances left by previous Conservative governments.

It includes scrapping the winter fuel payment from millions of pensioners.

But former Conservative MP Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, who has six children, said Sir Keir seemed "incapable of telling the truth".

"He spends his whole time telling people how to live their lives with smoking bans, advertising bans and potentially sugar and salt taxes," said Sir Jacob.

"No one is asking him to tell people how many children to have, all that is being suggested is that he should say having children is a good thing, but the old lawyer never wants to give a straight answer."

Meanwhile, former Tory MP Miriam Cates said: "It’s very concerning that the Prime Minister doesn’t appear to understand the basic mathematical problem underpinning the UK’s sluggish growth; namely that falling birthrates mean we have fewer and fewer working people supporting growing numbers of pensioners.

"No amount of local business plans or productivity drives are going to change this fundamental fact.

"If the Prime Minister wants growth, he should follow the example of increasing numbers of Western leaders in urgently looking for ways to increase the birthrate."

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