The Conservative candidate for Mayor of London has said that the UK needs to get away from the idea that it is ‘acceptable’ to be a single mother.

Shaun Bailey, 47, also wrote that inner city girls ‘deliberately become pregnant’ in order to secure houses and benefits from the British government in an unearthed 2006 article.

Under the title ‘the reason our streets are so violent’, Mr Bailey describes what life was like for him growing up in London.

Shaun Bailey said being a single mother should no longer be viewed as ‘acceptable’ (Picture: AP)

‘Any young girl living in the inner city will be clued up on how the system works,’ he wrote for the Telegraph.


‘They won’t be too careful about not becoming parents. In some cases, they will deliberately become pregnant – as they know that if they do, they will get a flat.’



He continued: ‘It is the same with benefits. These people are not stupid.

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‘If the state offers them money for doing something, they will do it. It is as simple as that.’

Earlier in the article, Mr Bailey had commented on single motherhood as ‘wrongly assumed to be acceptable’ – despite acknowledging that many do ‘extraordinary well’ in raising their children.

‘Many of the first single mums were housed in my part of London, reassuring them that it was acceptable – even desirable – for mothers to have babies on their own,’ he said.

‘That assumption is flawed because we now know that a child growing up without a father is so much more likely to be disadvantaged.’

Mr Bailey has also come under fire for his comments about domestic violence (Picture: PA)

Mr Bailey has been selected by the Conservative Party to run against Sadiq Khan in the 2020 Mayoral elections.

The politician recently come under fire from the Labour party for comments he made in 2008 suggesting that an end to domestic violence ‘starts with girls’.

During a meeting on disarming gang culture, the Mr Bailey was reported as saying: ‘If you could get girls to accept less of men’s rubbish then men would have to change because ultimately men are after a girl.

‘Men’s behaviour is affected by what he feels it is to be a man and what he feels will impress a girl!’

It is not known whether the quotes are taken directly from Mr Bailey.

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Dawn Butler, the shadow women and equalities minister, said: ‘Shaun Bailey must urgently clarify his views on domestic violence as his words will raise serious alarm bells with men and women alike.

‘The views he expressed just a few years ago are repulsive and dangerous and have no place in modern society.

‘If Shaun has been on a journey since he said these hurtful things we must hear how his views have now changed.’

A spokesperson for Mr Bailey responded by telling the Labour Party to focus on their own problems at hand.

‘Instead of trying to misrepresent and take out of context historical comments from Shaun Bailey, [the mayor] Sadiq Khan’s team should try and focus on tackling the soaring crime rates in London, getting Crossrail back on track and sorting out his dismal record of housing,’ they said.

‘He needs to spend more time focusing on his day job and less time on the red carpet.’

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