Maternity leave is something that both government and businesses get very hot in the collar about, I guess if I was in their position, perhaps I would too but we're all for better maternity benefits here so wanted to let you know that the European Union was this afternoon accused of meddling in maternity policy after MEPs backed an EU-wide extension of maternity leave to 20 weeks - all of it on full pay.

The move was condemned as a massive extra burden on British business if it became law - and a GBP2 billion-a-year extra headache for the Treasury.

Current UK rules give pregnant women a full year off, with just six weeks paid at 90% of the mother's average pay, followed by 33 weeks on Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) of GBP123 a week - 55% higher than sick pay.

The rest is unpaid.

The British Chambers of Commerce said today's vote must be overturned either by the full European Parliament or by EU government ministers.

Guess it will be interesting to see what happens...