Investing in young is investing in future

Children, says the government-appointed commissioner charged with representing their interests in England, lack a voice in politics. As a result, their interests are too often ‘‘subjugated to the interests of others’’, or lost down the cracks between departments.

Mental health, crime and poverty are the big themes in the latest report from Anne Longfield, with a much-enhanced role for schools identified as the most likely remedy for a whole bundle of social ills that have, over a decade of austerity, made life much worse for a very large number of children. She calls for an additional £10 billion per annum in spending, overseen by a new cabinet committee.

Any such schemes will face stiff competition for

resources under this or any government. One of Longfield’s predecessors, Sir Al Aynsley-Green, recently sounded the alarm over nurseries, where there has been an alarming drop in qualified staff.

He is right that early-years policy is in urgent need of a reboot, but Longfield is also right to emphasise the harm caused by poverty to young people of all ages, including older teenagers. Even if the calls are rejected by the present government, as seems likely, they should embolden politicians of other parties to frame policies so as to emphasise the importance of investing in the young.

It may be a truism to say that a nation’s children are its future. But it still needs saying. Politicians of all parties should pay attention.