Should poor people have fewer children?

Are large families a serious drain on the welfare budget as Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has suggested?

UK Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has caused uproar by suggesting that poor people should act more responsibly and have fewer children rather than complain about benefit cuts.

Mr Hunt has been accused of lecturing people after urging poor people to address the burden that they put on the state by having more children than they can afford.

He was speaking after this week's Conservative Party conference where the government announced plans to impose a £26,000 cap on benefits – the average working family income.

Mr Hunt defended the proposed cuts saying: ‘The number of children that you have is a choice and what we're saying is that if people are living on benefits then they make choices, but they also have to take responsibility for those choices. It's not going to be the role of the state to finance those choices.’

Do you think Mr Hunt hasoverstepped the mark with his comments and that families on benefits are really struggling to make ends meet? Is the idea of ‘scrounger families’ living a life of luxury on benefits reality or myth?

Perhaps you think he has made a reasonable point and that parents should bear more responsibility for the number of children they choose to have and cannot expect the state to fund unlimited offspring?

Marie Claire wants to hear your thoughts today by posting a comment below.

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