Podcasts

Could childcare win Labour the next election?

A new report shows the UK loses 1% of GDP to a childcare shortage as Labour pledges to “reimagine” the system.

A new report from economics think tank the Centre for Progressive Policy (CPP) reveals the UK is losing 1 per cent of GDP through a lack of suitable childcare. Rachel Cunliffe, Alona Ferber and Zoë Grünewald discuss the cost of Britain’s broken childcare system as the pressure increases for action.

We hear from Labour MP Stella Creasy, who with shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson wants to make childcare a dividing line in the next election. The team discuss what Labour’s childcare policy would look like, the Australian Labor Party’s election success following the promise of a radical childcare policy with subsidies of up to 90 per cent, and Rishi Sunak’s offer – a “letter-writing campaign” to persuade stay-at-home mums to return to work – after scrapping Liz Truss’s childcare reforms.

They also cover what’s often missing in the debate, including why childcare should be seen as economic infrastructure, the quality of care, and why workers are often underpaid, overworked and undervalued.

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