Reporting Kirstie Allsopp to children’s services shows the illiberal path the UK is on - GP Taylor

On top of it all, our national treasure, Kirstie Allsopp was reported to social services for allowing her now 16-year-old son to go interrailing across Europe.

How sad that some people have nothing better to do than grass up parents for petty issues. Her son got back safely, had a wonderful time, and will become a better man for it. Well done, lad.

I admire Kirstie for being a hands-on, old-style parent who is not afraid to bring her children up how she feels is right. It was not so long ago when she smashed their iPads. Kirstie said she did not regret breaking the devices against a metal coffee table leg whilst her then 10- and 12-year-old sons watched in horror after breaking house rules for playing video games.

Good on her. About time parents laid down the law and had a backbone when it comes to their children.

During a recent road trip, I was sick of going to cafés and seeing children on devices, glued to screens whilst parents were on their phones.

At least Kirsty was doing her best to stop her children turning into phone zombies. The woman should be admired and lauded for being the type of parent that is going to give her children confidence to become mature members of society.

Far too many parents molly-coddle their children, they don’t allow them out and won’t let them get dirty, whilst at the same time fill them full of sugar or highly processed foods that I believe will either make them obese or give them cancer. If anything, it is these parents who have questions to answer.

Why Kirstie was reported to the social workers for allowing her son to go abroad is beyond me. He was only a couple of weeks off being 16, an age when he can have consensual sex and join the army. So, it’s okay for a young lad to fight for King and country but not get on a train to Paris?

At 15, I hardly ever went home. I worked as a glass collector in a nightclub, a shelf filler in Tesco and a clothes shop assistant on a weekend. The scrapes I got into made me the person I am today. My youthful experiences toughened me up and gave me the much-needed confidence to live and work in an adult world.

In every culture, control leaves children worse off, but autonomy helps them engage, learn, and grow.

My mother told me that she left school at 11 and went into service cleaning out the fires of a big house. If she did that today, her parents would be fined for not having her in school.

The greater issue here is that it shows the sorry state of our country.

Recently, a grandfather was fined £3,500 for giving his grandson a lift in his tractor after the boy had suffered a riding accident. This ‘outrageous offence’ was filmed by a neighbour. What kind of a pathetic individual would do that to a grandfather performing an act of kindness? Worse than that, the court thought it was in the public interest to prosecute the old fella.

Why does the state think it knows better than the individual? Kirstie Allsopp has every right in the world to allow her son to go on holiday.

Parents know what their children can cope with. I am saddened that she hasn’t entered politics as her common-sense approach to life would be very refreshing.

Under this imperious Labour government, we can all expect things to get a lot worse. It is obvious that Comrade Starmer thinks he knows best. Does he believe that parents like Kirstie Allsopp are far-right and should be locked up?

In the coming months we will see more and more legislation that restricts the freedom within family life as the illiberal socialists abuse their unpopular majority.

It is obvious that there will be tougher sanctions against parents who take their children on holiday in term time or have low school attendance. We may even see an outright ban on home education.

Labour appears to believe that they know better than anyone about how children should be raised and educated.

Stalin said. “Education is a weapon, whose effect depends on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed.”

Under Labour, the weapon is being pointed at our heads. Uncle Keir does not know best when it comes to family life. There cannot be legislation to cover every eventuality.

‘Kirstiegate’ has made me even more certain that as a radical libertarian, I will do everything possible to never obey anything this government says I have to do. Even if it means leaving this wonderful country, I will not comply.

GP Taylor is a writer and broadcaster who lives in Yorkshire.