艾伦·约翰逊表示，需要采取行动来鼓励低收入人群休育儿假。这位前工党重要人物建议应在秋季的预算案中推出新的政策，因为法律必须与时俱进。当时托尼·布莱尔将艾伦·约翰逊叫到唐宁街11号上面的公寓里谈话；当时的首相托尼·布莱尔显得很放松，只穿着袜子在家里闲逛，而他的儿子利奥正在玩玩具。约翰逊当时担任教育部长，他谈到了自己与第二任妻子所生的儿子——他们的年龄差不多。
Alan Johnson said action was needed to encourage takeup of paternity leave among lower earners. Photograph: Richard Saker/The Observer The former Labour heavyweight said new policy should be introduced in the autumn budget as the law has to move with the times arliament was in recess when Tony Blair called Alan Johnson up to his flat above Number 11. The former prime minister was relaxed, padding around in his socks, while his son Leo played with his toys. Johnson, then the education secretary, spoke about his own son from his second marriage, who was a similar age.
约翰逊回忆道：“托尼问：‘哦，你当父亲了？’我回答：‘托尼，我在20岁的时候就已经有三个孩子了！’他看着我说：‘这么说你确实属于工人阶级……’”虽然约翰逊在担任贸易和工业部长期间已经推行了带薪育儿假制度（距今已有近四分之一个世纪），但这位前工党官员仍认为工人阶级的父亲仍然受到了不公平的对待。《卫报》报道称，越来越多的现任及前任议员、工党高层人士都在呼吁设立为期六周的带薪育儿假（工资为正常收入的90%，最高限额为每周1200英镑），并且这一福利也应扩展到自雇父亲——目前只有自雇父亲没有资格享受带薪育儿假。
“Tony said: ‘Oh you’re a father?’,” recalled Johnson. “I said: ‘Tony, I had three kids by the age of 20!’. He looked at me and said: ‘So you really are working class …’” It may be almost a quarter of a century since Johnson introduced paid paternity leave during his time as the trade and industry secretary, but working-class fathers are still being shortchanged, the former Blairite minister has told the Guardian. Johnson has added his name to a growing number of current and former MPs and senior Labour figures calling for six weeks of paternity leave paid at 90% of earnings, capped at £1,200 a week, with the offering extended to self-employed fathers, who are currently the only parents with no entitlement to paid leave.
约翰逊18岁时与第一任妻子朱迪思结婚，收养了她的孩子，并在20岁时又有了两个孩子。他与第二任妻子所生的第四个孩子，是在他50多岁时担任新工党政府部长期间出生的。约翰逊回忆说，当第二个孩子出生时，他值夜班送邮件后回到家，发现妻子留了一张纸条，告诉他她已经去医院生孩子了。他睡了几个小时后便继续回去工作了。
The author married his first wife, Judith, when he was 18, adopting her daughter and going on to have two more children by the time he was 20. His fourth child, with his second wife, was born when he was a minister in the New Labour government in his fifties.
“男人就应该去酒吧，为每个人买酒，抽根雪茄，然后把所有繁重的工作都留给他们的伴侣，”他说。“等到我的第四个孩子出生时，我几乎觉得‘必须’亲自去参加孩子的出生仪式——时代在变化，法律也必须随之调整。”工薪阶层的父亲们仍然很少选择享受目前这项为期两周、金额为187.18英镑的育儿假；这一福利在欧洲各国中属于最不慷慨的之一。根据“Dad Shift”公益组织对英国税务海关总署（HMRC）数据的分析，2024-2025年度的育儿假几乎全部由英国收入较高的父亲们申请（这些父亲的年收入通常超过37,800英镑）；而共享育儿假（SPL）的申请者中，95%也是来自收入较高的家庭。
Johnson recalls that when his second child was born, he came home from work on a night shift as a postman to find a note from his wife telling him she’d gone to hospital to have a baby. He slept for a few hours and went back to work. “Men were meant to go down the pub, buy everyone a drink, smoke a cigar, and leave all the kind of hard work to their partners,” he said. “By the time my fourth child was born, it was practically compulsory to be at the birth – things move on and the law has to move with it.” Working-class fathers are still far less likely to take up the current paternity leave of £187.18 for two weeks, among least-generous offerings in Europe. According to analysis of HMRC data by the campaign group the Dad Shift, 90% of paternity leave in 2024-25 was claimed by fathers in the UK’s top half of earners – those who generally make more than £37,800 a year – and 95% of claims for shared parental leave (SPL) were made by fathers or partners in the top 50% bracket.
约翰逊补充说：“许多父亲和伴侣在孩子出生后的第二天就不得不回去工作，就像我当年一样。”
“Men were meant to go down the pub, buy everyone a drink, smoke a cigar, and leave all the kind of hard work to their partners,” he said. “By the time my fourth child was born, it was practically compulsory to be at the birth – things move on and the law has to move with it.” Working-class fathers are still far less likely to take up the current paternity leave of £187.18 for two weeks, among least-generous offerings in Europe. According to analysis of HMRC data by the campaign group the Dad Shift, 90% of paternity leave in 2024-25 was claimed by fathers in the UK’s top half of earners – those who generally make more than £37,800 a year – and 95% of claims for shared parental leave (SPL) were made by fathers or partners in the top 50% bracket.
“关于谁真正享受到了育儿假的统计数据实在令人震惊——这明显是一个社会阶层问题，”他说。“虽然越来越多的高收入父亲开始休育儿假，但我们必须采取措施，提高低收入家庭的参与率。”约瑟夫·朗特里基金会（Joseph Rowntree Foundation, JRF）估计，如果在即将发布的预算中实施新的育儿假政策（即父亲可享受六周、工资90%的假期），政府将额外支出10亿英镑；不过，由于更多女性重返工作岗位所带来的税收增加，这一成本可能会降至2.2亿英镑。
Many fathers and partners will still be in the position of having to go back to work the day after the birth of a child, just like he did, added Johnson. “The statistics about who is actually accessing paternity leave is just stunning. It shows that it’s a class issue,” he said. “It’s great that more prosperous dads are taking paternity leave, but we’ve got to do something to increase the takeup among the lower paid.” The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) estimates that introducing the new policy of six weeks at 90% of pay in the forthcoming budget would cost the government an additional £1bn, but increased tax receipts from women going back to work could reduce that cost to £220m.
当被问及尽管财政状况面临严峻挑战，政府是否仍应在下一份预算中推行这一政策时，约翰·希利·约翰逊毫不犹豫地回答：“当然应该。从政府的角度来看，这项政策的成本其实微不足道（即实施这项政策的成本非常低）。而且，如果经济状况真的阻碍了人们生育子女，那对整个社会来说是有害的。社会需要孩子，人类需要繁衍后代；因此，鼓励生育对整个社会是有益的，没有其他可说的。”
Asked if the government should introduce the change in the next budget, despite the strong economic headwinds faced by the chancellor, John Healey Johnson is in no doubt. “Absolutely. In government terms, the cost is money down the back of the sofa,” he said. “And actually if the finances are preventing couples from having children, ultimately that is bad for society. Society needs children, mankind needs to procreate. So encouraging childbirth is good for society, full stop.”
他补充说，这项政策会受到民众的欢迎，也不太可能遭到反对。“从纯粹的政治角度来看，这确实是一个很好的分界线——安迪·伯纳姆和工党完全可以借此来划分他们的立场。”
The policy would be popular, and unlikely to be opposed, he added. “If it was, in pure political terms, it’s a good dividing line for Andy Burnham and the Labour party to take,” he said. “It’s an excellent dividing line.”