Gordon Brown woos mothers with online chat

The plans are part of a five year programme to reform healthcare services for babies to five year old Toddlers.

"Over the next few years we want to see a legal right for mums to choose where they give birth, including home births for anyone who wants one. And we want to see services changed so that not just mums but dads can be given a bed if they need to stay in hospital overnight after the birth of their baby. We have also set a goal to recruit an extra 4,000 midwives by 2012." he said.

"Maternity services should definitely remain a priority for the NHS." he added.

Part of the plans include adding extra beds on maternity wards so that Father's can stay with their loved ones on the first night of their birth.

The plans will also reform the legal rights of mothers giving them the choice to give birth whereever they want, including home.

The plans, put together by Health secretary Andy Burnham and children's secretary Ed Balls are designed to empower mother's and father's in an attempt to break the culture of career - family clashes.

From now on, part-time work will be viewed 'compassionately' as Father's take time off from their career to focus on their family, said work secretary Yvette Cooper on a separate announcement on Sunday.

"We support both those measures. But the key thing is that significant investment is needed to make them happen. So far we haven't seen the investment required to implement their current policies.

"Parents were supposed to be able to chose the place of birth by the end of last year – our research shows there has been some improvement but there is still a long way to go. It would take an enormous building programme to accommodate new fathers, so I'm not sure how fully that's been thought through.It would be fantastic if there was scope for more family rooms but it would mean a building programme." commented Mary Newburn, head of research and information at the National Childbirth Trust.