The radical expansion of free childcare to all exceeds all other political party’s offers and will save families thousands of pounds a year. It will be accompanied by opening a Sure Start centre in every community to unlock the potential of all our children.

Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner has outlined Labour’s £1 billion investment to reverse the Conservatives’ austerity cuts by opening 1,000 new Sure Start centres across England replacing the 1,000 closed since 2010.

Labour’s plans to radically expand free childcare to 30 hours a week for all 2-4 year olds, saving families thousands of pounds a year.

Analysis by the House of Commons Library, found that Labour’s expansion of free childcare would see:

• a family with one 2 year old (currently ineligible for childcare support) save over £5,000 a year
• families with 2-4 year olds (currently only eligible for 15 hours childcare support) save over £2,500 a year

This comes as new analysis shows childcare costs have risen twice as fast as wages under the Tories.

Peter Lamb, Crawley Council Leader and Labour’s Candidate in Crawley, said: “This policy is about the real change that the next Labour government is going to bring to people’s lives. 

“Just imagine how much easier this will make life and work for the parents of young families in Crawley. 

“You can’t trust the Tories and the Lib Dems with childcare – they cut more than a thousand Sure Start centers across the country and told us it’s impossible for the state to make people’s lives better by helping with childcare. 

“Yet I’ve met families across Crawley who struggle to afford the childcare they need to return to work. For too many families that results in the use of foodbanks and rising numbers of children growing up in poverty in our town, even though at least one parent is working full time. 

“This is another example of Labour delivering real change that makes a difference to real people’s lives.”