Bethnal Green & Bow MP Rushanara Ali is fighting for nurseries

In the wake of proposed council cuts which threatened nurseries in our local area, parents organised and inspired support in their campaign to protect our borough’s children. I, alongside my Labour colleague, Jim Fitzpatrick MP, stood with them.

Chances are, you either live close to - or know a family who has benefited from one of the four nurseries in question. Overland’s Children’s Centre and Queen Mary Day Nursery in Bow, John Smith Children’s Centre in Stepney and Mary Sambrook Day Nursery in Shadwell all faced closure.

Nurseries provide essential educational and childcare services at vital stages in our children’s development. Each of these four nurseries caters for children with a variety of special educational needs and health issues which demand specialist care.

It is getting harder to give your children the best start in life under this Tory-led government. T

ower Hamlets has the highest levels of child poverty in the country, yet the Tories have allowed the cost of childcare in the UK to rise by a third since 2010. That’s five times faster than people’s wages have increased over the same time. Even more tragically, Surestart, one of the flagship achievements of the last Labour government which did so much to boost the life-chances of children across the UK, has been let down by this coalition government.

As in Tower Hamlets, it’s Labour who are fighting for families across the UK. We committed to investing in our country’s future through Surestart, we have also committed to increasing the childcare available to parents from 15 to 25 hours per week.