Amanda Craig calls for a cap on family size

Author and book critic Amanda Craig has called for a limit to be placed on the number of children that families on benefits are able to have.

The writer, whose novel Hearts and Minds was placed on the longlist for the Orange Prize for Fiction 2010, has suggested that there is an 'ecological need' to prevent low-income families from having more than two children.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, she claimed the current benefits system does not encourage responsible parenting, while it also 'can't be good' for the youngsters involved and the environment.

'Those who work and pay taxes have to consider very carefully the number of children they have,' she explained to the newspaper.

'Most stop at two. Why should those on benefits be any different?'

While the author has two children with her husband Rob Cohen, Craig said they had been keen for a third. However, she claimed to be too old by the time they could afford another.

Craig's novel Hearts and Minds, which was released last year, is a follow-up to her previous works A Vicious Circle and Love in Idleness.