Labour hasn't given working mothers what they really need
The Government's child-care policies are formulated by women who are out of touch with reality, argues Cristina Odone. By Cristina Odone
Published: 6:34PM GMT 11 Mar 2010
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Young mothers are deserting both Labour and the Conservatives Photo: Getty
Picture Louise at seven on a weekday morning, a jam-smeared toddler at her feet, a yowling baby in her arms. The minute her partner comes in from his night shift, she's off, taking the four-year-old to the SureStart childcare centre. After dropping him off, which still upsets her because she hates handing him over to a succession of different carers, she'll go to her job as an office manager. Louise only works because otherwise she and her husband wouldn't be entitled to the childcare tax credit, which can be claimed only by a couple who are both working at least 16 hours a week.
Now, imagine Louise's reaction as, out of the corner of her eye, in between wiping baby's nose and slipping on her Shoe Zone boots, she catches sight of Harriet Harman sitting on the sofa on breakfast television: glossy, articulate and immaculately turned-out, she is claiming to speak for "ordinary women". Can you blame Louise if she hurls one of those boots at the screen? Or, more crucially, if, at the general election, Louise decides to tell the Government what she thinks of it? Related Articles * Toby Young: Sam Cam the political spouse
Young mothers are fed up with being patronised and ignored, and are deserting both main parties – but in particular Labour. Geoff Dench, the noted sociologist, has analysed statistics from the British Social Attitudes Survey over the past 24 years, in a study for the Centre for Policy Studies. His findings will send a shiver of fear down the Labour Party's spine. Where, back in 1986 more than half the working-class mums who were looking after their children voted Labour, only 27 per cent did