It was incredible to be part of the world’s first ‘Parents Strike’ in Leeds, along with parents in a total of 13 cities across the UK, including Birmingham, Glasgow, Cardiff, and London.
It was Thurs 27 August 2026, the city had barely woken up, and were calling for improved paternity leave and better flexible working rights for parents.
This matters to me especially as a dad, because I feel strongly about the importance of equal parenting – supporting dads and second parents being more present during a baby’s first weeks is the best foundation for that.
We knew it was a big ask for people to come into the city centre early on a Thursday morning during the school holidays, but the turnout was fantastic, and it was phenomenal to see so many people striking together.
People I talked to came not just from Leeds, but from Sheffield, Barnsley, Wakefield and York. Some were part of Leeds Dads, some knew about the Dad Shift campaign, others just heard about the Parent Strike on their socials.
Everyone came together to share the same message: better paternity leave and flexible working is good for dads, for mums, for kids, for the economy and for society.
We heard from Mark Sewards MP and Alex Sobel MP about what the government is already doing in this space, and how they are pressing the government to go further. Dr Helen Norman from the University of Leeds celebrated Leeds Dads, and talked about how the importance of dads spending time with their babies is grounded in her academic research.
Parents Tom, Nathan, Hattie and Gem shared how the lack of proper support for dads made their experiences of childbirth much harder.
This including a dad almost losing his wife,and then feeling unable to cope, and a mum whose self-employed partner lost all income for ten weeks when he stayed by her side in ICU as their baby recovered.
It was powerful to hear their personal stories, which really brought the issues to life.
We came together in Victoria Square opposite Leeds Town Hall on a grey weekday morning in town. We chanted, we sang, we cheered, and from 0600 am we shouted for change live in front of the cameras on ITV’s Good Morning Britain!
It was a wonderful shared experience and I came away full of energy and I hope that we can help to bring about change.
As we heard the latest press coverage of strikes around the country I was proud that we had played our part for the next generation in Leeds, West Yorkshire, and Britain.
