Political

And here’s the first of the new ‘Letters from Nick Clegg’

I blogged a few days ago about a planned new series of emails from Nick Clegg. Well, the first one has started hitting inboxes this morning and it’s good.

It has a nice chatty style and makes good use of a common theme to turn what would otherwise be a dry collection of bullet points and decimal points into something rather more readable. I’d have preferred a little more in the way of a personal story than the simple “when I speak to people” bit, but even without this is a great step forward.

 

Letter from Nick Clegg - email header

I want to start writing to you, as a supporter of the Liberal Democrats, regularly and more informally than I have in the past. I want to give you a bit more of an insight into what’s going on behind those Whitehall doors and how we, as Lib Dems, are dealing with the issues and challenges that come up.

An issue that gets raised again and again when I speak to people across the country is the question of good childcare – and how important it is not just to families but to our economy too. When you’ve got young kids, getting the right childcare matters enormously. Even if it’s just a babysitter for a few hours, you need to know you’re leaving your children with someone you trust and can rely on. But when it comes to finding a nursery, a childminder or a nanny, it can be a real nightmare.

For too many parents that’s first and foremost because of cost. I know so many mothers who’ve been really keen to get back to work after their year of maternity leave – until they’ve calculated the cost of a place at nursery. Add in the cost of travel to work and mums can find themselves effectively working full time for just a couple of pounds a week. It’s absurd.

In government we have already made important steps – introducing 15 hours free childcare for all three and four year olds. And from next year we are extending this to the poorest two year olds. Real achievements we can proud of. But only this week a report by the Resolution Foundation said that living standards will only rise for people on low and middle incomes if we support women to work. And recent research showed that two thirds of women with children under five say they’d work, or work more hours, if we got them more help with childcare. That shows how much more there is still to do.

Even mothers who do go back to work after their first child can find it impossible when it comes to the second child. Too often they just can’t make the sums add up, and even though they’d love to be out earning they find years go by before it makes financial sense. So by the time they can afford to go back to work, it’s a struggle to find a job and convince an employer they’ve still got what it takes.

Some families may decide that they want to share childcare between them, or one parent may stay at home to focus on bringing their children up. But no-one should be forced into that decision – it’s about giving parents choices.

Of course there’s no silver bullet. Everyone knows there isn’t much money to go around. And looking after small children is a difficult job which should be done by skilled people who know what they’re doing. Childcare isn’t something you can buy at bargain basement prices.

But I’m determined to make sure we do more, and do it better. I’ve got a simple objective in mind: I want every parent who wants to work to be able to – without seeing every penny of their wages disappear in childcare bills. And if we can find the money, we’ll try to make that possible. Through hugely increasing the tax threshold and introducing the pupil premium we have already ensured a powerful legacy for families from our contribution in government in this parliament. I would very much like to add improving childcare to that list too.

Thanks for reading. If there’s anything you particularly want me to update you on, please reply to this email.

Best wishes,

UPDATE: Here is Stephen Tall’s take on the letter and here’s my post about the widespread media coverage for the Nick Clegg email.

2 responses to “And here’s the first of the new ‘Letters from Nick Clegg’”

  1. Have been a great supporter of the pupil premium but as yet have not seen evidence how its helping our children who are most in need of it. Also think increasing the tax threshold is most helpful to low paid workers.

    The problem I have Nick; the same people you are trying to help are being hit the hardest. It seems to me we are giving with one hand and taking more with the other hand.

    People on benefits are in dire straights, they are having their housing benefits cut, these new tenancy agreements are a disgrace and affordable rent is most certainly not affordable. Most people on housing benefits are low paid workers.

    I had a visit from my neighbour in tears, She had a visit from from her housing association, they told her now that her 11 yr old son has decided to live with his dad she will have to pay a room tax of £25. She has three other children at home with her (one is disabled). She asked them to be transfer to a smaller house but because of her contract ( 5 yr contract) she cannot transfer. In year four of her contract she has to re apply to the council to be housed. Most people are willing to give up their large houses when their children live home. But where are they to go? I feel this is blatant discrimination, as we do not ask people who live in large private houses to pay a room tax. I fear there will be a bigger housing crisis in the future as people will be forced out of their home. I also fear because of the cuts and future cuts to benefits, child poverty as well as poverty in elderly and people with disabilities will increase. Disabled people are treated appalling by ATOS.

    I agree we need to help more women back into the workplace and will need help with child care, it has become far to expensive for most parents.

    I also agree that women/men should have a choice if one of them wishes to stay at home and look after the children. Why do I feel this will only be a choice for the rich? Is it because we now live in a society where single specially young mums are looked down on and accused of being scroungers.

    I hope you are not in support of this two child policy. Are we to judge in the future how wealthy a person is, on how many children they have. I also think this would lead to far more abortions then is necessary due to poorer people not being able to afford another baby.

    Nick; I joined this party because I thought it was a voice for the poorest in society. I find I am becoming more and more disillusioned.

    I helped you at your Worthing hustings for the leadership of the party because I believed in you. I know you had hard decisions to make but I would now like to see you and our MP's fight harder against further cuts on the poor and work harder to hit the richest. Then we will all truly believe we are in it together.

    • Having worked at the House of Common for over three years I could see that most m.p. Took their seat with all the best intentions, But power is like a drug the more you have the more you want and the house being like a old boys club it is not long before your intention start to fade.

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