AIBU to wonder if a stay-at-home mum could become an MP?

That's a really blinkered view. Most of the SAHMs I know worked very hard before having children in their 30s in a variety of jobs including youth worker, teacher, engineer and vicar. All of which give knowledge that would be useful to an MP.

Not all of them were well off and lived very frugally. Some of them would have actually been paying to work if they'd gone back to work as their salary wasn't generous.

Anyway, OP, I would consider voting for a SAHM depending on what their party and policy was. I'm afraid I wouldn't consider voting for Reform though, whatever a person's background.

Why not try being a parish councillor first, and get some experience with local issues first.

Given that so many Reform councillors have no idea what they’re talking about and/or resign after getting elected you should fit right in.
Lord help us if there’s ever a Reform majority government.

Thank you for this actual data!

It may be published in the Guardian, but the research is from Harvard Business School, which if anything leans slightly right. It is also one of the world’s top B Schools, decade after decade. Especially for research.

What do you make of the article, OP?

TBF I’d probably trust a well meaning SAHM more than I’d trust most of the MPs we currently have!

Your husband is a high earner.
You don’t work.
You think your family should pay LESS tax
You think you can be an MP
You're a racist.

Good grief.

I agree. It would be much better if women relied on men and had no career so they can’t leave when they are abused or get a good salary the man can’t work. What would you do if the man was injured, let’s say quadriplegic, and mum who is home with a traditional large family he’s benefits capped at 2 kids with no PIP for him. Of course there won’t be any carers in your world as they will have “gone back where they belong”.
Its one thing to toughen up the benefits testing and another to speak in absolutes.
The main issue this country has is a spiralling pension, nhs and social care cost. Get the young to work. Make the wealthy pay for their own care. Means test pensions.

If she attended Parliament as many times as Farage does, she could probably still be a SAHM as he doesn't bother to attend most of the time.

She sounds vacuous and self-serving, and would only champion policies that would help families just like hers and sod the rest of us.

I mean you could, but if you think a political party other than the loons would allow you to stand with no background of doing something for them then you aren’t being particularly realistic. And you couldn’t be a SAHM any longer if you actually were elected by the people….

I have a son with severe LD & autism. Doubly incontinent etc. I work full time partly to give myself a mental break, partly to give us a quality of life and couldn't do it without help from grandparents in their mid 70s. The day I went back to work I stopped getting any carers allowance at all, it doesn't even taper down and if it wasn't for my parents free help, I don't know where we would be. The idea that someone would claim anxiety so their partner could stay at home for £84 a week is ridiculous.

Can see why not when, quote (not my words) ‘Queer Tamil Immigrant’ has been elected as a Green MSP in Scotland despite not having ‘right to work’ in UK. He’s here on student visa and has started crowd funding to raise money to pay for his visa despite fact he’s going to be on salary of £77k! Couldn’t make it up. Go for it!

Wow… I can’t believe that you have actually written this!

Working mothers are by your terms people who don’t feed their children nutritious food and cause them mental health problems?

This seems to be your personal view, but absolutely isn’t based on any facts or evidence!

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/24/having-a-working-mother-works-for-daughters

Obviously with views like this you are a Reformed supporter… especially as you want to remove the basic state support given to the most vulnerable in society.

I personally find your opinion abhorrent and those of Reform disgusting…

Find a party of which you want to be a member. Join. Volunteer with them. Stand as a council candidate. If you can stick that, becoming an MP could be another step.

Yes why not, l had a councillor who stayed atv home for over two years to look after her premature daughter. To be a councillor, or an MP all you need is to be interested in people and their problems, obviously being an MP requires you to be in the House regularly , so might not be ideal for a SAHM.
Many, many politicians come from extremely priviledged backgrounds- at least you would understand about running a household and budgets etc, but you would probably have to choose your constituency carefully.

So its not SAHMs you want to encourage, its trad wives - you will make a perfect MP - you are completely out of touch with most people, living your priviliged life with your high earning DP and living your perfect life!

No I would not vote for somebody spouting this stuff.

Because she is a SAHM with a high earner DP - so she will benefit and she is reform after all

You think cutting welfare payments will reduce mental health issues - explain!!

We’ve been waiting days for any sources to back OP’s claims

apologies if repeating others- but I think you are being very idealistic. Have you got the stats on ';stay at home mums on benefits' impact on their family life including children's education? Having a non working parent does not necessarily bring about the positives you're quoting (Prepared for howl down and / or contradictory information)

Honestly no way. Most people who do these jobs and are selected by the local party in my area have a longstanding track record of community involvement. I wouldn’t vote for you if you’d been sitting around pleasing yourself for twenty years no matter how clever and articulate you are. 5 years is nothing in the world of work. There’s nothing wrong with the life you’ve chosen but it is not a platform to be an elected representative.

To add to the posts above from @notthisoneagainnow : Farage is very open about believing in private health care and favouring the American way of doing things.

Presently the average cost of health insurance in America for a family of four is over $27,000 - that is, over £20,000 - pa. That is not a typo.

The alternative is to go without, risking pain, bankruptcy and death.

@Questionsssss This probably won't be your cup of tea at all but do me a favour and watch the below video about the NHS and possible future. First section highlights why we need it and what it was like before. It's important that you see all viewpoints, and even the Conservatives always knew that messing around with the NHS wasn't a vote winner. The ordinary families, with or without SAHPs aren't going to have a better future without healthcare, or with extortionate healthcare where you are always wondering whether it is covered or what the co-pays will be every time you use it. Look at America, all it takes is for a business to fail or having an unaffordable, unexpected medical expense and that's it, you are bankrupt and living in poverty and that's including with insurance because it doesn't cover everything. It can happen to anyone, it happened to a friend of a family member. They had a lovely, comfortable life with their children, with high earner partner, much like yours, and their whole life collapsed due to business failure.

I have a comfortable life, which I never take for granted. You cannot bank on these things lasting forever and that's why we need safety nets, including healthcare.

How would your families with SAHMs benefit from a tax cut if Reform get in and privatise the NHS? How would they have more money to enable this if they had to pay out £££s in private health insurance every month?

How will ordinary families benefit from a party that only wants cut taxes on the very rich? The money has to come from somewhere, and that somewhere is them and the public services they use.

Have you ever tried to get PIP? Trust me, it isn’t easy at all!