The great British baby drought has a simple cause. And it’s not ‘cultural Marxism’ | Polly Toynbee

There's no shortage of people who want more children. But under the Conservatives, parenthood is punished

Miriam Cates, MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge, launched her own culture war at the National Conservative populist rave this week. Her central point, which she called existential", was the need to stop the falling birthrate, which she said was threatening British culture. If you want to be a national conservative, you need a nation to conserve ... As conservatives we want to preserve our nation and our heritage."

On the baby drought, I agree with her, but for very different reasons. I share none of her explanations nor her remedies - though I agree the lack of babies is a symptom of a serious societal malaise".

Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist