Working women and childcare

One the first policies the Coalition government put into place was to cut the child tax credit.

 This has meant many families up and down country have both parents working but are struggling to cover childcare cost. 

The childcare in the UK is expensive and the average nursery in London charge about £50 day which can work out to be over £1000 a month. 

The changes in child tax credit has meant that two parent with a joint income of over £32,000 are unable to claim tax credit. 

In London £32,000 is over the average earnings and this meant some parents are staying home unable to work due to these cost. 

Historical records have shown that with each general election the female vote is increasing. 

I think there be will women up and down the country who will be thinking about the cost of childcare before they decide whom to elect. 

As families up and down the country know that affordable and trustworthy childcare is a must before either parent can even consider going back to work. 

Countdown to the 2015 UK General election

It is now seventeen months to the next UK General Election and the main parties are preparing their election manifesto. 

The Labour Party will probably campaign on improving living standards. 

Yesterday Ed Miliband went to the Tory heartland of Stevenage to promise that the next Labour government  will build more houses. 

I think this will resonate with voters up and down the country, many of whom are feeling the affects of the housing shortage 

Tories are also going to focus on a cost of living but from a different prespective. The Tories recently leaked their child benefit proposals to the Daily Mail. 

In this proposals, child benefit will no longer be given to parents with more than two children. 

I think this is disaster of a policy which in my opinion is unworkable. What will end up happening is that more children will end up on the poverty line. 

The Tories would also like to restrict free  movement of labour between certain countries and the UK. 

This is also an unworkable policy as the key principle of the European Union is the freedom of labour movement. 

So this would be very difficult for the Tories implement without contravening EU policy. 

Prime Minister's Questions

Prime Minister's questions was back yesterday and Ed Miliband focused his questions around the cost of living.

At first Ed asked about the proposed pay rise of MP's and both Ed Miliband and David Cameron are broadly against the pay rise. 

Ed then asked David Cameron about another tax cut for millionaires. Which David Cameron did not deny this surprised me. 

I would have thought millionaires where the last people that David Cameron would currently want to give a tax cut to. 

This really helped Ed Miliband to convey his message that David Cameron and the Tories are out of touch with every day people.

I thought that Ed did well and hopefully in time he will be seen as a credible alternative to David Cameron. 

Prime Minister's Questions 27 November 2013

Todays Prime Minister's questions was bit of a mix bag. Now bearing in mind that the election is eighteen months away. 

A good performance at PMQ's is important for both David Cameron and Ed Miliband. 

Today Ed focused his questions around the cost of living and  the uturn the government recently made on payday loans. 

In my opinion Ed Miliband asked the right questions and David Cameron gave weak and feeble answers.   

I would not say that it is the best PMQ's I have watched. But what makes it entertaining is watching David Cameron in "flashman mode".

So Ed got the better of the exchanges between them and he just needs to keep the momentum going for as long as possible.