Reform by-election candidate calls for ‘young girls’ to be given ‘biological reality’ check

Reform UK’s candidate in an upcoming by-election has called for women and young girls to be given a “biological reality” check, as he gave his views on how Britain should tackle its impending “fertility crisis”.

Days afterThe Independent revealed that Matt Goodwin previously suggested people who don’t have children should be taxed extra as punishment, an unearthed clip posted to his personal YouTube channel in November 2024 has shown the former academic warning that “many women in Britain are having children much too late in life”.

In the video, Mr Goodwin – who is standing for Reform UK in the upcoming Gorton and Denton by-election – argued: “We need to explain and educate to young children, the next generation, the severity of this crisis.

“We need to also explain to young girls and women the biological reality of this crisis. Many women in Britain are having children much too late in life, and they would prefer to have children much earlier on.”

In a separate clip, taken from a podcast he recorded with controversial right-wing philosopher Jordan Peterson, Mr Goodwin also appeared to agree with the host’s claim that universities have become hotbeds of “politically correct authoritarianism” because they are full of “childless women”.

Discussing the “predictors of politically correct authoritarianism”, the clip from February 2025 saw Mr Peterson say: “There were two other major predictors – three actually – the first was being female...” Interjecting, Mr Goodwin says: “I was going to say that...”

Mr Peterson then continued: “The second was having a female temperament. That was an additional predictor over and above being female. The third was having ever taken a politically correct course.”

He added: “Okay, so you pointed out that this ethos of harm avoidance, let’s say something like that, this protective ethos started to dominate, well, no one has been courageous enough, or foolhardy enough, to broach the possibility that the reason for that is that the universities became dominated by not only women – this is even worse, I might as well go in all the way – childless women.”

Mr Goodwin responded: “Yeah, actually there are a couple of papers on that Jordan, I’m sure you’ve seen, I think Cory Clark. I’ve read a couple I think showing basically the feminisation of higher education over the last 50 years.”

Professor Clark has studied how the inclusion of women in higher education has impacted academia.

Her research noted that the introduction of safe spaces and trigger warnings on university campuses, as well as growing concerns about censorship and free speech at universities, “share a common theme: they reflect the priorities of women”.

Labour’s deputy chair Lucy Powell dubbed the comments “utterly astonishing, misogynistic, and vile”.

But a Reform spokesperson said the pair “were discussing peer-reviewed academic studies showing clear psychological differences between men and women, which influence their views of cancel culture”.

Ms Powell toldThe Independent: “The message to women from Reform’s Matthew Goodwin appears to be ‘know your place’.

“After it was exposed that Goodwin wants to tax millions of childless women, he’s now bemoaning women’s right to education. It’s utterly astonishing, misogynistic, and vile.

“We must stop Reform’s extreme candidate getting a foothold in Manchester – the proud home of suffragettes and pioneering women – by ensuring he is rejected at the ballot box in this by-election.”

But Mr Goodwin said: "I find it both shocking and amusing that the one political party that lectures the rest of us, endlessly, about the dangers of 'misinformation' is deliberately trying to misinform voters about my views.

“The last person I will take criticism from is Lucy Powell who described people who want justice over the mass rape of working-class children as ‘blowing a little trumpet’.”

Last week, it emerged that Mr Goodwin previously suggested imposing a “negative child benefit tax” on “those who don’t have offspring” – a proposal that has prompted comparisons to dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale, which is set in a society that forces women to bear children in an effort to tackle a fertility crisis.

While such a tax would financially impact both men and women, it would disproportionately affect women, putting pressure on them to become pregnant to protect both themselves and their partners from the levy.

In the unearthed blog post from 2023, the former university academic and honorary president of Students4Reform also suggested that the government “remove personal income tax for women who have two or more children”.

After Mr Goodwin’s comments were put to Reform UK, the party called for a “grown-up, mature debate about how we can encourage people to have more children and support British families”.

“This is an idea that was first suggested by the respected demographer Paul Morland as part of a range of measures that should be debated and discussed across developed nations if we are serious about dealing with our looming demographic crisis,” a party spokesperson said.

They later added: “Matthew never called for childless women to be taxed more. He cited demographer Paul Morland who suggested a range of policies to encourage parents to have more children in order to tackle our country's looming demographic crisis.

“Matthew also stands by his comment that teenagers should be taught about biology and is surprised the Labour Party disagrees.”

Responding to the clip on the Jordan Peterson Podcast, a Reform spokesperson said: “As can be easily seen, they were discussing peer-reviewed academic studies showing clear psychological differences between men and women, which influence their views of cancel culture.”