George Osborne, the British Chancellor of the
Exchequer has been accused of insulting stay-at-homes mothers after he
called their decision to look after their children at home a ‘lifestyle choice’.

The Chancellor wants to encourage women back
into the workplace by giving families where both parents work up to £1,200 of taxpayer-funded child care for
each child. This will affect roughly 2.5 million households. The child care vouchers would
be available for people earning up to €150,000. That means a couple with a
combined income of £300,000 could benefit.

There is
currently no help for one-income married couples and the long-promised tax
break for married couples, if it is introduced, will be only worth £120 per
annum, according to The Daily Telegraph.

In an
interview with BBC Radio 4, Mr Osborne said he had “huge respect for mothers who
want to stay at home and look after their children.”

He added: “That’s
their lifestyle choice, I want to help those families too.”

He was
accused of betraying mothers following his remarks. Laura Perrins, a barrister who give up her job to
raise her children at home
told The Daily Telegraph: “Saying stay-at-home mothers have made a
lifestyle choice is pejorative and patronising. They are contributing to the
economy , to society, to everything. Staying at home is not a luxury, it’s not
a hobby. Women who choose to stay at home make huge sacrifices. The married tax
allowance is something we have been calling for but a their version is pretty
pathetic when compared to the the child care vouchers”.

Mr
Osborne told
BBC Radio 4’s World at
One that his aim was to help
families who “wrestle with very tight budgets” by giving an opportunity to the mother to work
in order to increase
the income of the household.