Working parents deserve a childcare system that actually works

Families need properly affordable childcare – not just 15 hours-worth of vouchers, says shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson

Bridget Phillipson: ‘If I become education secretary, childcare will be my number one priority’ (Getty Images)

In 1789, Benjamin Franklin said there were two certainties you could rely on in life: death and taxes.

But he missed out a third: that you can always rely on the Tories to lie through their teeth to cling on to power.

The last four years have seen a high watermark for dishonesty. They promised 40 new hospitals that turned out were not anywhere near 40 in number, were not new, and were not even hospitals. They promised not to raise taxes, and yet we now have the highest tax burden in 70 years.