Pressure grows on Burnham to commit to increasing statutory paternity leave

Exclusive: Calls from Labour grow as 105 MPs write to PM urging ‘obvious’ step to alleviate cost of living crisis

Andy Burnham is coming under increasing pressure from his own MPs to commit to improving paternity leave in the UK in the next budget, with more than a quarter of Labour MPs writing to the prime minister to urge him to take action.

Ahead of the chancellor’s first budget next month, 105 MPs have written to Burnham calling on him to increase statutory paternity leave to help alleviate the cost of living crisis and arguing that lowest-paid fathers are the hardest hit by meagre paternity leave provision.