After 14 years of campaigning, we were pleased to hear the Chancellor state publicly that the Child Benefit Tax Charge was unfair to families particularly where one parent stays at home to care. 

The fact that the principle of household taxation was publicly acknowledged means there is a public recognition that the principle can be changed to make life fairer for families. 

Is more childcare going to be good for babies and toddlers? Putting to one side for the moment the important questions of whether the new expansion of childcare will help mothers back to work (something that is debatable) and whether the majority of mothers would prefer childcare to caring for their babies themselves (also worth a debate), this important question is not being discussed in the public response.

The Chancellor has listened to the cry of childcare but is he prepared for the cry of separation? Mr Hunt has put another nail in the coffin for mothers wanting to make the choice to stay home to care. This attack on our freedom is justified in the name of productivity. ‘Getting mothers into paid work will boost the economy and growth’. But it is based on the insulting myth that mothers nurturing babies and toddlers are doing nothing at home; they are ‘inactive economic units’.