New mothers in City should expect to earn less than men, Nigel Farage suggests

The Ukip leader says that women in some high-pressure jobs who take maternity leave find themselves "behind the rest of the pack" when they return

New mothers returning to work after having children should expect to be paid less than men in some professions because it is a "fact of life", Nigel Farage has said.

The Ukip leader said during an appearance on Loose Women that mothers in some City jobs will come back to work and "find themselves behind the rest of the pack", a problem which is "difficult to change".

Speaking on Loose Women on ITV1, He said he is talking about a "relatively narrow sector" of the jobs market and did not apply to doctors, lawyers and researchers.

Mr Farage also said that he expects his party to win more than 10 seats at he General Election and expects his party to be in the same position as the Liberal Democrats were in 2010.

He said: "If you're a doctor, a lawyer, a researcher, you're a woman, you have a baby, you take six months or a year off. You are not disadvantaged at all in that job. But there are other jobs in which if you take six months off and come back you find yourself behind the rest of the pack and earning less money. That is a fact of life. It's difficult to change that."

He later clarified: "I was talking about a narrow sector, brokerage, where you were chained to your desk and I would never dare take a fortnight's holiday and never did. It's a relatively narrow sector of society."

Mr Farage said that all politicians are fundamentally "selfish" and neglect their families.

He said: "You cannot conduct any sense of family life and do politics. I notice that the other three big leaders are very good at coming on programmes like this and saying what wonderful family men they are, how they do the school run and when the babies were little they changed all the nappies and did the night feeds. Maybe that's true. All I can say is my life in politics it's pretty much impossible to do that."

He was also asked why he has been voted "the most hated man in Britain". He replied: "If you look at the political class we've got, by which I mean the people that go to the same handful of schools, all go to Oxford, all do the same degree."

One of the presenters challenged him: "Well you're one of them. You went to public school."

Mr Farage said: "You look at these political figures, they are all like cardboard cutouts. They are all playing safe, they are all scared of the media. I'm not, I'm a bit like marmite. People either like me or don't like me.

"Ukip is not going to win the election. Ukip is going to win a number of MPs, we might just find ourselves in the same position Nick Clegg was five years ago. If we do that I'll do a better job than Nick Clegg did."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/nigel-farage/11452211/New-mothers-in-City-should-expect-to-earn-less-than-men-Nigel-Farage-suggests.html