This new Sure Start plan for children is a moral mission: a watershed moment for our government | Bridget Phillipson

Labour will restore the early years provision decimated by Tory rule – and engrain it so deeply that no rightwing government can unpick it

• Bridget Phillipson is the secretary of state for education and Labour MP for Houghton and Sunderland South

• Report: Labour vows to protect Sure Start-type system from any future Reform assault

Like many young mothers, Jenna was unsure where to start. But that’s where her local family support service came in. Offering breastfeeding advice, a space to come together with other parents and for her son Billy to play with other babies, it reassured Jenna that she was on the right track – and crucially, that Billy was set up to achieve when he got to school.

Jenna’s service was the first of Labour’s renowned Sure Start centres in Washington, my home town in north-east England. I knew it well: before becoming an MP I ran a refuge nearby for women fleeing domestic violence. I linked up the women who used our refuge with Sure Start. It was a lifeline for those women who, despite everything, were determined to give their children the very best start in life.

Bridget Phillipson is the secretary of state for education and Labour MP for Houghton and Sunderland South Continue reading...