Gove suggests parents of truanting children could have child benefits stopped

Michael Gove is understood to want the proposal included in an action plan on reducing antisocial behaviour. Photograph: Tejas Sandhu/Sopa Images/Rex/Shutterstock

Michael Gove has suggested that parents who fail to ensure their children attend school regularly could have their child benefit payments stopped.

Gove has argued such penalties would help restore “an ethic of responsibility”. He had previously attempted to introduce the measure while education secretary during the coalition government in 2010 but was blocked by then Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg. He later pushed David Cameron to put it in the Conservative manifesto for the 2015 election.