Reform UK candidate says women should stay at home and look after the kids

Martin Shipton

A Reform UK Senedd candidate shocked those attending a hustings meeting by suggesting that women should stay at home and look after their children instead of going out to work.

Mark Lawrence is Reform’s number three candidate in the super-constituency of Pontypridd Cynon Merthyr and was speaking as the representative of his party at the election event in Pontypridd Rugby Club on the evening of April 20.

A member of the audience who contacted Nation.Cymru said: “The Reform candidate was answering a question about the high cost of childcare. He quoted some figures showing that a very high proportion of the income of someone he knew well was going on childcare. He said women should stay at home and look after their children.

“Audience members were stunned that he said that and Heledd Fychan, the Plaid Cymru candidate, said she was so angry that for a moment she couldn’t answer the next question at the hustings.”

The audience member said: “The Reform candidate was quite confident and recognised he had offended people but said that the idea that women should stay at home to look after their children was ‘just [his] opinion.’”.

In a Facebook post, Beth Winter wrote: “Last night’s hustings in Pontypridd, organised by Trussell Trust Merthyr Cynon Foodbank Pontypridd Foodbank dealt with the critically important issues of food poverty and hardship in our communities.

“My thanks to Trussell and to our audience who submitted such a range of questions. It is clear that local people care and are committed to finding solutions.

“It is an indictment of our society that in one of the richest countries in the world, people depend on foodbanks.

“We could eradicate food poverty in this country tomorrow if there was the political will to do so.

“We need to come together across our communities to demand the right to food – women, children, men, young, old – as we did for the recent Right to Food UK Commission’s community assembly in Aberdare.”

Choices

Plaid Cymru’s lead candidate Heledd Fychan also posted to Facebook a message that stated: “Reform candidate Mark Lawrence — third on their list here in Pontypridd Cynon Merthyr — said he would prefer the focus to be on supporting women to stay at home to care for their children rather than investing in childcare.

“He also stated that, in his experience, all the women he knew wanted to stay at home, and that he believed the emphasis on childcare provision was misplaced.

“Views on childcare and work are, of course, deeply personal, and families make different choices. But access to affordable, high‑quality childcare is fundamental to women having real choice — whether that means staying at home, working, or balancing both.

“Childcare shouldn’t only be seen as the responsibility of women either, and I can’t believe I have to say this in 2026. Views like that firmly belong in the dinasour section of a museum!

“If Reform were to win the most votes in Pontypridd Cynon Merthyr, Mark Lawrence would sit in the Senedd. It’s worth reflecting on what kind of voices and priorities we want represented there.”

Major issue

The issue of affordable childcare has been a major issue in the Senedd election campaign, with Plaid Cymru is promising to provide free childcare for all children aged nine months to four years if it forms the next Welsh government.

When party leader Rhun ap Iorwerth announced the pledge during Plaid’s annual conference in Swansea, he said the “transformative” policy would offer at least 20 hours of free childcare a week for 48 weeks each year by 2031.

He said it would give families “a helping hand with the things that matter the most.”

Under the plan, free childcare would be made available to all families regardless of income or employment status, making Wales the first UK nation to offer such a universal scheme.

The party estimates the proposal could be worth around £32,500 to families over the first four years of a child’s life.

At present, childcare support in Wales, introduced from 2017 by the Welsh Labour government, applies mainly to working parents, students, or families living in specific “Flying Start” areas.

Families earning less than £100,000 are entitled to 30 hours of free care for children aged three to four, while some two-year-olds in selected areas receive 12.5 hours per week.

Free childcare

Plaid’s policy would extend free childcare to every family, starting with 20 hours a week for children aged nine months to two years.

The scheme would be rolled out in three stages over the next parliamentary term and completed by 2031.

Ap Iorwerth said the plan would be funded from within the existing Welsh government budget, estimating that by the end of the rollout, annual spending on childcare would reach about £800m.

He said about £400m could be made available in the next budget if other services rise with inflation. “This is money that we know we can afford,” he said.

The Wales Green Party has also pledged universal childcare for children aged nine months to four years, without requiring parents to work a minimum number of hours.

Existing childcare schemes will be unified into a single, simpler system available for 48 weeks of the year.

A universal block of 20 hours, alongside additional funded hours offered on a sliding scale of fees based on income, will be created. The universal offer will be expanded over time, the party has pledged.

The Welsh Conservatives are proposing 30 hours of free childcare per week from nine months old until school age, aiming to match the offer available in England.

The Welsh Liberal Democrats are pledging to deliver free childcare from nine months to four years, 30 hours a week, 48 weeks a year, with party leader Jane Dodds saying the policy is the “single most significant way” of reducing child poverty in Wales.