Opinion: Open letter to UK parents

Business Secretary Amber_Rudd writes for the Guardian.

Amber Rudd writes for the Guardian

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Guardian.

Dear People of the UK,

Margaret Thatcher claimed that there was no such thing as society, only the individual and their family. She was, and remains, patently wrong on this point. We have a society and that society is built by families as the central basis. Whilst our society is built by families it hasn’t been built for families, it’s been built for too long for vested interests. I want to tilt the scales back towards families, and I need the help of all politicians to do so. From the start of my campaign for Universal Childcare, I’ve been overwhelmed by the support from parents and from members and politicians in my own party – let me share with you just one example.

When I started my campaign to be elected as the Member of Parliament for Shropshire and Staffordshire I visited a mother, Katrina, in the constituency who’d gone to university for years to become a Doctor. Her family was not an affluent one, she wasn’t raised with a silver-spoon in her mouth, but she worked hard to realise her potential and fulfil her dream of being a Doctor. It’s women like Katrina that form the basis of our society, who’s drive to get out of bed every morning to go help others is something we can all admire, yet it’s women like Katrina that end up being forced out of work by prohibitive childcare costs. Katrina told me about how she was forced out of work, out of her dream job, in order to take care of her children. The costs of childcare, which have doubled since 2004, aren’t just forcing low-income single mothers out of work they’re forcing professional paid well-paid women out of the workforce and stopping women meeting their potential. The decimation of female potential, and yes Im say female not parental because the costs of childcare are still in our progressive society born overwhelmingly by women, costs us 3% of our GDP and reduces the individual choice of women like Katrina.

I’m ashamed that politicians, myself included, haven’t acted sooner to deliver for our children and our nation’s parents. We’ve had the resources and the knowledge to be able to act for decades now, Quebec introduced their universal childcare system in 1996, yet we’ve been failing parents like Katrina and refused to learn the lessons from abroad despite having a clear example to follow. Today, our country leads the world, but it leads the world on childcare costs. It leads the world on taxing parents and limiting their ability to strive. In parts of our country today, what incentive is there for a single mother to strive when more money than she earns will be taken away in childcare costs.

We’ve failed parents, but now I’m calling on politicians from all political parties and voters, whichever party they back, to back parents. No parent should have to quit their job to raise a child, no parent should have to pay more than they earn in childcare costs and no parent should have to feel the mental conflict between spending time with their children and paying for their childcare. I want us all to own up to the grave injustice that parents have suffered at our collective hands it’s time to stop and unite behind Universal Childcare. Admitting to the injustice we’ve created, the parenthood tax, isn’t enough anymore we need to work together to create Universal Childcare. I want us to offer, and I’m incredibly proud of my party and colleagues for doing so, a bold new deal to parents.

People of the United Kingdom, let’s start a dialogue. I want to hear every thought, every idea, and every dream of what you want and need us to do in our Universal Childcare policy. [Read our plan](https://sites.google.com/view/ambercare/home) and tell me what more we can do to help you. Opening a dialogue about what we, society, can do for striving individuals and their families is so important to me and I want you all to contribute to the dialogue at [www.Conservatives.com/AmberCare](https://sites.google.com/view/ambercare/home). Soon, and I really hope it is soon, the long fight towards gender equality, towards ending the parenthood tax and towards allowing all to reach their innate potential will begin to conclude. I hope you’ll be there fighting for it alongside me.

Yours Sincerely,

Amber_Rudd

Written by Amber_Rudd for the Guardian.