Nursery World - LONG READ How do the parties’ election manifestos stack up?

Ahead of the General Election, we look at what the main parties’ policies might mean for the early years sector, with comment from key people. By Katy Morton and Catherine Gaunt

The country goes to the polls on Thursday, 4 July PHOTO Adobe Stock

With just over a week to go until the General Election, there remain several questions surrounding the main political parties’ pledges and the impact they will have on early years and childcare.

Sector organisations have criticised the manifestos for being light on detail. Helen Donohoe, chief executive of the Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years (PACEY), said there is ‘perilously little detail in the Labour proposals for childcare’; while the Social Market Foundation accused the Conservative manifesto of not having any ‘credibility’ or ‘identity’, and ‘focusing on the next three weeks, not the future’.

The Early Years Alliance welcomed measures in the Liberal Democrat manifesto, but said that ‘ultimately, the devil is in the detail’ as information on how these would be implemented remains ‘scant’.

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