Doing away with playground politics – why mums matter

I’ve had lots of jobs. I’ve been a university student, working part-time jobs to pay my way. I’ve been a journalist and managed charity projects in the poorest parts of the world. I’ve built a small business and worried about paying the bills. And if I have the support to win at the General Election next year, I will be the MP for Reading West.

But, the most important, challenging, and rewarding job I’ll ever have is to be Benedict and Mariella’s mum.

This Sunday is Mother’s Day. I’m looking forward to my children bringing me homemade cards and small fistfuls of daffs. I’m looking forward to seeing my mum and telling her that I wouldn’t be doing what I do every single day but for her and my Dad. And I’m looking forward to having a family meal, three generations around one table, kids and dogs bouncing around everywhere. It’ll be chaotic but that’s family life.

Talking to people across Reading West, doorstep by doorstep, street by street, I often think about the kind of chaos this Government is leaving to our children and it makes me feel angry.  Of course it’s up to us, as mothers and parents, to take the steps to build a strong foundation for our children, to teach the importance of self-respect and hard work. But, it’s a responsibility that the Government must share.

Mums have been hit hard by the Conservative-led Coalition. New analysis shows the soaring cost of childcare, up by a third since 2010, and tax credits cuts leaving a typical family out of pocket by as much as £800 a year. I know one woman in Reading who takes home £18 a week after paying her travel and childcare costs. This lady knows that if she takes a break from the workplace until her youngest is in full time school, she couldn’t return at the same level of seniority. Her family need support now.

With much fanfare, the Coalition launched a new policy to soften the hardships they’ve caused to families across the country. But, only the highest earners, who have the highest childcare cost, will get the most benefit, and even then, only on the other side of the election if the Conservatives stay in power. David Cameron is doing nothing about parents who need wrap around care.

Education is crucial to our children’s future. My children will be competing for jobs in a world where anything that can go on a server will probably be outsourced to the lowest-wage workforce. With changes in technology moving at record pace, the jobs Benedict and Mariella will do may even not have been invented yet. Meanwhile, the Coalition have slashed education spending by the biggest amount since the 1950s.  We are seeing many enthusiastic, committed, visionary teachers now so desperately unhappy that they are striking. They love teaching but do not love what is happening to their profession.

It’s up to us—Labour campaigners up and down the country—to help make life easier for parents, not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because it makes sound economic sense. In Reading West, we’re talking to parents about Labour’s promise of free nursery places for 3 and 4 year olds from 15 to 25 hours a week for parents at work. We’re discussing our pledge for wrap around care for the primary school parents who need it. The parents I’m speaking to get that we’re listening and interesting in coming up with policies that address their worries.

Our women MPs are also doing a great job of encouraging our communities to ignore the unhelpful images in some of the papers and on TV. I want to be one of those MPs, spurring on our sons and daughters to reach for their goals. There’s a glass ceiling to break, and I want Mariella to have the best possible example of leadership and hard work.

As mum to two young children, I hope I bring something different to politics. My daily closeness to the people we’re trying to leave a fairer, safer, better world shows me the difficulties that all mums face today. But, this closeness also gives me the hope to inspire our sons and daughters to never downsizes on their dreams. Only yesterday my son told me he wanted to work in the clouds. I’m not sure if he means space travel or online storage. But, I’m glad the sky’s not his limit.

Whether you’re gay, straight, or transgender, a foster parent, an adoptive parent, a guardian, a step parent or a birth parent, raising a child isn’t easy. But, the things worth fighting for, protecting, and dreaming about, rarely are. Whatever you are doing this weekend, have a Happy Mother’s Day.

Victoria Groulef is Labour’s PPC for Reading West