Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson wants to extend free childcare to parents on benefits as part of a universal early years offer. The aim is to prevent another generation of young people becoming NEETs. The proposal would broaden existing free childcare entitlements.
The chamber rejected Bridget Phillipson's plan to widen free childcare to benefit claimants by two to one, but the topline conceals a striking age fracture. Voters under 25 were the only group to actually back the extension, while those in their late thirties and forties turned against it almost to a person, barely one in ten saying yes.
That U-shape is the story here: enthusiasm at the youngest end, hardening resistance through the working-age middle, then a softening again among the over-65s, who split down the middle. It reads less like a verdict on childcare policy itself than on who is seen as deserving of state support — the same fault line that runs through debates on universal credit conditionality and the "something for nothing" critique of welfare.
Men and women differed too, if less sharply: men were roughly evenly torn, women more clearly opposed. Together the patterns suggest a vote less about children in the abstract and more about parents on benefits specifically, the neediest cohort proving hardest to win over among those who work.
For a policy pitched as preventing another generation of NEETs, the notable dissent came precisely from the generation raising children now.
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Should inheritance tax be abolished?
Welfare · 307 votes · 59% voted Yes
Is Robert Jenrick right that long-term welfare harms young people rather than supporting them?
Welfare · 294 votes · 74% voted Yes
Should in-work benefits be replaced with a higher minimum wage?
Welfare · 292 votes · 53% voted Yes
1.3 million foreign nationals claim universal credit in the UK, is this fair?
Welfare · 316 votes · 69% voted No
Should UK spending be refocused on investment in infrastructure and services instead of working-age benefits levels?
Welfare · 307 votes · 80% voted Yes
Should those that have been out of work for a year be forced to do 20 hours community service?
Welfare · 281 votes · 62% voted Yes
Should welfare benefits for working-age claimants be cut?
Welfare · 246 votes · 57% voted Yes
Should no one have to sell their home to pay for social care?
Welfare · 148 votes · 66% voted Yes
4 Opinions
Layabouts who don’t work absolutely don’t need taxpayer funded childcare.
It’s bad enough I’m paying for free breakfasts it’s not the states job it’s parents responsibility you had em u feed them . Not my responsibility . And if parents are in benefits ville they don’t need childcare because they are not working