State-funded childcare

SIR – AE Couchman (Letters, January 28) argues in support of state funding for children’s early years. This might seem sensible, but like so many other government interventions, it would be the slippery slope to ever-increasing spending.

When the welfare state was established, it was intended as a short-term financial assistance while people got their lives back in order after the Second World War. It has now grown to finance many people from the cradle to the grave, with little incentive to support themselves.

The state already pays child benefit, to help families with the cost of bringing up children. Payment for nursery childcare would inevitably lead to pressure for increased funding for primary school books, meals and uniforms, then up through secondary school. How long before state-funded holidays, mobile phones and internet connections were demanded?

John Snook

Sheffield, South Yorkshire