Nick Clegg will promise new fathers six weeks of paternity leave if his party gets into government for a second term . Nick Clegg will promise new fathers six weeks of paternity leave if his party gets into government for a second term . The Liberal Democrats would triple the amount of leave for dads of newborns from the current two weeks – and pay them the maternity leave rate of £138.18 a week . It will be seen as a bid to woo women voters and young families ahead of the General Election , but will face concerns from the business community . Mr Clegg has already pushed for shared parental leave , which starts from next week ( April 5 ) . It means parents can split a year off work between them at statutory pay . This means that a mother who wishes to end her maternity leave – and pay – early to return to work , can hand over their entitlement to the child ’ s father . But Mr Clegg and the business minister Jo Swinson announced today that fathers can have an extra four weeks leave at home with the child ’ s mother , and both would be entitled to pay . Mr Clegg believes the two-week period fathers get is often treated as a holiday , and extending it would encourage men to be more involved in childcare . The policy will be in the party ’ s manifesto and would be introduced in 2018-19 after consultation with businesses . They hope half a million fathers would benefit from the scheme which would cost £58million a year , and be paid for once the deficit is cleared . Mr Clegg said today : ‘ The Liberal Democrats want to tear down the barriers that stop people reaching their full potential . For too long , mums have been told their place is at home with their child , while dads return to work . I want parents to choose for themselves how to balance work and family. ’ The entitlement would be under a ‘ use it or lose it ’ basis so fathers must start their six weeks ’ leave within eight weeks of their child ’ s birth and can not transfer it to the mother . Mr Clegg was promoting his policy to treble paternity leave to six weeks with Lib Dem minister Jo Swinson ( right ) as he visited Play Town soft play centre in Bishopbriggs , East Dunbartonshire . Labour have already pledged to increase paid paternity leave to four weeks – and increase paternity pay - which triggered criticism from small businesses that the costs would be prohibitive . But Lib Dem sources said the policy would help businesses retain staff who wanted to take time off with their families . Around 55pc of fathers take the full two weeks currently available . One of Mr Clegg ’ s early schemes , in 2011 , to encourage parents to share their time off – called Additional Paternity Leave – was a flop after being found to have an uptake of only 1pc . Scroll down for video . Mr Clegg , who yesterday tried his hand at making pancakes on a visit to Cardiff , believes the two-week period fathers get is often treated as a holiday , and extending it would encourage men to be more involved in childcare . It allowed fathers to take the statutory six months maternity leave instead of mothers , but the downside was that they would not get any pay after the first two weeks . Lib Dem sources said : ‘ There was low uptake of that scheme because it wasn ’ t paid , so families made decisions based on their finances . And of course there was also a cultural barrier . ‘ But we believe six weeks of paternity leave on statutory pay will be popular and help to change attitudes . There has been no greater champion for this in government than Jo Swinson , she pushed for six weeks paternity leave in government but the Tories blocked it. ’ The scheme is modelled on a similar one in Sweden in which fathers get a ‘ daddy month ’ and also the right to shared leave for more than a year . Uptake is high because fathers are entitled to 90pc of their full pay . But Miss Swinson said yesterday that the aim was to ‘ challenge the gender stereotypes that all too often write fathers off as hapless or bumbling ’ . She added : ‘ Liberal Democrats want to triple paternity leave , to encourage new dads to spend more time with their child in those vital early weeks and month after birth . Most fathers want to spend more time with their new baby – and we know it makes a positive difference for children when they do . ’
Liberal Democrats would triple the amount of leave for dads of newborns . The party said it was "disappointed" by Mr Cameron's comments and called on him to reverse his decision before next week's election.