MORE than 100 Labour MPs have backed calls for improved paternity leave, with strikes on the issue expected across Britain this summer.

Former cabinet ministers Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are among those backing the change, campaign group The Dad Shift said today.

Thousands of people are expected to picket Downing Street, Holyrood and the Senedd to demand better support for parents, including flexible working.

New fathers are currently entitled to two weeks’ leave on pay of either £187.18 a week or 90 per cent of average earnings, whichever is lower.

Campaigners, including men’s health charity Movember, want this increased to six weeks at 90 per cent pay.

Labour group for men and boys co-chair Amanda Martin said: “We need to make sure time with dad isn’t something only wealthy families can afford.

“The evidence shows that better paternity leave is good for families and good for the economy too.”

Fellow co-chair Alistair Strathern said: “Working parents are the backbone of our economy but the pressures of raising children are becoming impossible for too many families.

“As a nation we need to take decisive action to ensure working parents get the support they need.”

Parent strikes are also due to be held in Manchester, Newcastle, Birmingham and Glasgow, led by Anna Whitehouse, known as Mother Pukka, and The Dad Shift.

Dad Shift co-founder George Gabriel said: “Parenting is meant to be hard, but it’s not meant to be this hard.

“Raising a family can’t be allowed to become the preserve of the well-off, and it’s not like we don’t know how to prevent that.”