Harriet Harman Rocks! (that hurt)

New fathers are to be given the right to take six months off work in the UK after the birth of their baby.

Dads are only allowed two weeks off at the moment while mums get a year, with nine months of that paid.

But following proposals by Gordon Brown, Business Minister Pat McFadden is to push for laws allowing parents to split leave.

It could mean mothers taking the first six months and dads the second giving 12 months in total rather than the 9 currently available to mothers alone.

Mr McFadden said there had been “overwhelming support” for the move in a consultations, and ministers will try to legislate as soon as possible.

Now Brown has moved in to claim the glory here, fair enough, it is an election year but I’d like to give a special thumbs up to Harriet Harman. She has championed parental leave and flexible working rights in the UK for many years, and despite a lot of stick recently, she came through on this one.

I usually do a ‘related articles’ bit here but I can’t find anyone saying anything nice about her.