Watch Out

She is backed by John Guillebaud, emeritus professor of family planning at University College London. But he cautions health professionals against being seen as interfering or patronising. He said: “It is relevant to discuss with parents their ability to give the best possible life to their children. It all depends on how this is said. I could never be pushy.”

Marie Stopes International, one of Britain’s largest abortion providers and a leading family planning organisation, is considering publishing leaflets for women detailing the financial costs of bringing up children. Some of the women the clinics treat have abortions because they do not have enough money to look after another child.

Marie Stopes chief executive, Tim Black, said: “We should make this information available but we must not patronise people. I do not think people understand that having a child is a costly exercise.”

The suggestion that mothers should give more consideration to how much they can spend on each child has, however, angered parents of large families.

Eileen McCloy, a mother of 10 from Govan, a deprived area of Glasgow, argues that children from large families learn qualities that money cannot buy, such as sharing and consideration for others. She also points out that these children benefit from the family support brothers and sisters can offer.

McCloy, 45, a full-time mother, graduated last year from Strathclyde University in Glasgow as a mature student. Her husband, Kevin, 54, is a joiner.

Although the children have been brought up in a rented house, the McCloys pride themselves on the fact that their oldest children have gone on to buy their own homes.

The McCloys’ eldest son, Kieran, 25, is a computer engineer with the local health authority, while their eldest daughter, Claire, 22, has an honours degree in marketing. Gillian, 18, is on a gap year before university, while Martin, 16, is sitting four highers — the Scottish equivalent of A-levels. There are six younger children aged between three and 14.

Mrs McCloy said: “Bringing up children may cost a fortune if you want them all to go to private school and have a PlayStation each. Our children know how to share and they know how to take their turn. Thanks to being part of a large family, they also know how to have consideration for each other and for others that are less privileged than themselves.

“What Baroness Flather is suggesting is eugenics. I would like to see her going into Knightsbridge and suggesting that families there have fewer children.”

Nazrul Islam, a waiter, and his wife, Asma Begum, a full-time mother, have five children aged between three and 14. They are from Bangladesh but now live in Tower Hamlets, east London, one of the poorest communities in Britain.

He said: “It is a decision that should be left to each family. I don’t think official bodies should really get involved. I certainly don’t feel my kids have missed out.”

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