Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
The kids will be all right
Expansion of free childcare to boost families 400,000 new jobs created in green revolution
Opportunity matters most in the earliest years of life. It will make a difference MR CORBYN ON PLANS FOR FREE CHILDCARE FOR MILLIONS
JEREMY Corbyn will today put children’s futures at the centre of a Labour revolution as he sets about undoing the damage caused by savage Tory cuts.
The Labour leader is to use his speech at the party conference to announce a huge expansion in free childcare for hard-pressed families.
Mr Corbyn will also outline plans for nationalisation of industries run by greedy bosses only interested in profits, boost workers’ pay and launch a drive for 400,000 green jobs as he sets about rebuilding a Britain for “the many not the few”.
In a pledge of “real hope” he is to offer 30 hours of “genuinely free” childcare to all parents of two, three and four-year-olds in England. At the moment it is only for the two older age groups in term time.
And there will be a boost in pay and skill levels of childcare staff.
Mr Corbyn will tell delegates in Liverpool: “Opportunity matters most in the earliest years of life.
“It is a crucial time to open up children’s life chances. Driving up standards of childcare will make that vital difference for millions of our children.”
Labour will also offer extra, means-tested subsidised hours on top of the free allowance. These will be free for households earning less than £16,000 and cost no more than £4 an hour for those on higher incomes of £66,000 and more.
There will be a sliding scale of fees in between.
A source said there would be no limit to the number of extra hours a family could claim.
The £4.8billion package of reforms has been costed by estimating how many hours would be taken up. Mr Corbyn will also hit out at the reckless capitalism that brought about the crash of 2008.
He is to say: “Ten years ago this month, the whole edifice of greed is good, deregulated financial capitalism, lauded for a generation as the only way to run a modern economy, came crashing to earth, with devastating consequences.
“But instead of making essential changes to a broken economic system, the political and corporate establishment strained every sinew to bail out and prop up the system that led to the crash.
“People in this country know, they showed that in June last year, that the old way of running things isn’t working any more. That’s why Labour is offering a radical plan to rebuild and transform Britain.”
As well as announcing plans to save the NHS from its wilful Tory
destruction, Mr Corbyn will tell of his ambitious plan to launch a green jobs revolution as he vows to tackle climate change.
He is to say: “There is no bigger threat facing humanity than climate change. We must lead by example.
“Our energy plans would make Britain the only developed country outside Scandinavia to be on track to meet our climate change obligations.
“That means working with unions representing the workforce to ensure jobs and skills are protected as we move towards a low-carbon economy. And it means working with industry to change the way we build, and to train the workforce to retrofit homes and work in the industries we will build. “I can announce that Labour will kickstart a green jobs revolution. “Our programme of transformation to achieve a 60% reduction in emissions by 2030 will create over 400,000 skilled jobs, based here and on union rates, bringing skills and security to communities held back for too long.” Mr Corbyn will rally the party by telling members to prepare for a snap election in case PM Theresa May is destroyed by Brexit. Speaking ahead of his speech, the 69-year-old vowed to carry on as leader to oversee his rebuilding programme.
Mr Corbyn, who shared a platform with Labour MP Rebecca Long-bailey yesterday, said: “I’m very healthy, very fit, very proud to lead our party.
“I want to bring about a social transformation and give real hope to young people and those who are up against it in our society.”
And he last night challenged Theresa May to a televised leaders’ debate before a general election after she chickened out of last year’s one.