Parties clash over outlook for families

In a debate organised by 4Children in the run up to the general election on 7 May, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper attacked the Conservative Party for being “out of touch with the reality” of problems affecting families across Britain.

Cooper, the Labour MP for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford, said: “We have seen prices go up but wages really squeezed. Overall families are around £1,600 a year worse off.

“We need a better deal for families, meaning things like more free childcare to help families balance and juggle a working family life.

“There is a whole series of areas where we should be backing families and not just leaving them.”

Cooper reiterated Labour’s pledges to increase free childcare hours for three- and four-year-olds and for more wraparound care before and after school if elected.

However, Andrea Leadsom, Conservative MP for South Northamptonshire and chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Sure Start, defended the government’s record on supporting families and refuted Labour's figures.

“It has been a tough time since the recession under the last government but we are starting to see a turnaround,” Leadsom said.

“The £1,600 does not take into account the measures to raise the tax free allowance and in fact statistics have shown people are now on average very slightly better off than they were in 2010.”

Leadsom also said the planned introduction later this year of the test to ensure all government policies are family friendly, as well as tax breaks, will help families further.

Also speaking at the debate, which was hosted by Good Morning Britain’s Kate Garraway, was Liberal Democrat Baroness Lindsay Northover, international development minister.

She said: “We recognise it is extremely important to provide better childcare and it has to be affordable and of good quality.”

In addition, Ann Marie Walters of the UK Independence Party, pledged a “review of childcare centres”.  

Walters added: “Childcare is a huge cost. It can sometimes be not worth your while going to work.

“We want to encourage after-school clubs or breakfast clubs, which would be a less expensive way of extending childcare.”

Samantha Pancheri, the Green Party's spokesperson for schools, pledged to create "universally available free childcare from age one through to the school starting age".