Gordon Brown: 'School gate campaign'

Gordon Brown has used a keynote campaign speech to detail his 'school gate' election campaign.

Speaking in the marginal constituency of Welwyn Hatfield on Wednesday, the chancellor said that addressing the concerns of parents was at the heart of Labour's bid to win a third term.

Seeking to contrast Labour's programme with that of the Conservatives, Brown said: "At every election the choice people face is which government can best meet the needs and concerns of hardworking families.

"I believe that parents' and children's concerns are so important that this election is now rightly called the school gate election campaign.

"And today after visiting school gates and talking to parents, my colleagues and I are making a direct appeal to mothers and fathers," he added.

Brown argued that while Labour would invest more in schools and raise child benefit, the Conservatives would take "millions out of local schools, and cut spending by £35bn".

Manifesto pledges

Labour would, in each year of the next parliament, spend more on education and more per pupil, said Brown.

"Any pound we save by cutting unemployment we will use to improve our schools, and by the end of the next parliament expenditure on education will form a higher share of national output than at the beginning," he added.

"In the next parliament, we will move investment per pupil, once the lowest among our international competitors, towards the highest."

The chancellor said that Labour was meeting its promise to cut child poverty by 25 per cent and was now setting a new target to halve it by 2010 "and end it in a generation".

He added that the extension of tax credits, paid maternity leave and the Sure Start scheme would help even more families out of poverty and extend choice.

"Our more generous tax credits mean that we are able to help families with incomes of up to £59,000 a year with their childcare costs, and we are extending to a wider range of eligible childcare including, in some cases, at home," said Brown.

"Parents who qualify can now get up to £300 a week, £175 for one child, towards childcare costs.

"From next year they will receive even more help - up to 80 per cent of the cost of childcare."

Warning

He warned that if the Conservatives returned to power they would slash public spending and damage the prospects of children.

"The Conservatives plans for health – the so-called patient's passport - would take £1bn out of the NHS and give it to private hospitals, helping the few at the expense of the many," cautioned Brown.

"The Conservative's pupils' passport would cut up to £200 per pupil in our local schools to give to private schools - helping a few at the expense of the many.

"Even the Conservatives' council tax plans for pensioners would do far more to help pensioners higher up the income scale than poorer pensioners – showing again that their concern is for a few at the expense of the many.

"Many families can literally not afford a Conservative government."