Labour, hypocrites or just incompetent?
I can’t make up my mind if Labour are being cynical hypocrites or are just plain incompetent.
Yesterday, Labour launched a plan which they claim will “double childcare places at Sure Start centres”. Tristram Hunt (Shadow Education Secretary) laid out a scheme to let charities take over unused facilities at SureStart centres so that the centres can provide childcare. (http://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/feb/08/labour-double-childcare-places-sure-start-centres-tristram-hunt)
This looks to be a good idea, until you start wondering who is going to cover the costs of the charities? The charities may get the centres for free, but who will pay for staff, equipment, resources?
Tristram Hunt has also said there will be no new money and the costs will come out of the funds that the government gives to local authorities for this. What he forgets is that these grants are not ring-fenced (which is why so many Labour run councils closed SureStart childcare centres in the first place) and are often used to cover other services.
So, while charities may take on these centres, unless they charge fees, they won’t be able to afford to run them but if they do charge fees, it will only be the better off that can afford to use them, leaving the poorest and those most needing the service out in the cold.
Yet again, Labour have chosen a policy that gives a good headline. Just like Miliband’s idea to lower the Tuition Fees (which will only help those who earn the higher wages and can afford to pay the loan off, leaving graduates on lower incomes to carry on paying them off, It also leaves Universities far worse off), Hunt’s childcare plan falls to pieces on closer examination, only helping those who can already afford childcare and leaving the most disadvantaged, the very people Labour claims to want to help, with nothing.
