How our next government can deliver a manifesto for children

This article was first published on the Transforming Society website in June 2024 - HERE

The general election is well underway, with Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak touring the UK, drumming up support, announcing the pledges, stances and commitments to which they will be held accountable should they be victorious at the polls.

The process is familiar, perhaps too familiar, as this is the fourth general election campaign in a decade. But, soon enough, the time will come for a new government to deliver on those pledges.

Sadly, there is one group in society whose voice has been conspicuously absent from the national conversation in this campaign, and for the previous three. A group that desperately needs the next government to deliver. Our children.

Over the last 30 years, the life of a child in the UK has dramatically changed.

Today, our children are growing up in a volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous world. Their childhoods have been plagued by repeated crises: a global financial collapse, extremist terrorism, a worldwide pandemic, the return of war to Europe. The list goes on.

On top of this, our children must now navigate a digital world that can be as potent and toxic as the real world and with many spending every moment of the waking day on their phones.

Delivering meaningfully for our children is now one of the most pressing issues in the UK. The next government must focus on thinking long-term, and laying the foundations of a society that truly values and supports the next generation.

10 weeks post-election

Within a few weeks following the election we will get a sense of our leaders’ true priorities. There will be plans – or hints – setting direction of travel for the economy, foreign relations, the environment, defence and so on. It’s critical that our children are not forgotten. The next government must set out within its first 10 weeks how it intends to deal with the crisis children are facing in the UK.

Nobody expects game-changing reforms in these early stages. However, new ministers can and should make an early statement of intent – small actions that give us the confidence it will be a government that invests in our children.  It must also bring a new tone to how it values children and listen to their voices, opinions and ideas.

For example, Turn On The Subtitles has been campaigning since 2020 for all media catering to under 12-year-olds to have subtitles turned on by default. Why? Because studies show subtitles on children’s programming greatly improves their literacy, doubling their chances of becoming a proficient reader.

With a quarter of British children leaving primary school with a lower-than-expected reading level, subtitles by default would cost nothing to the taxpayer and have profound benefits. The next government can start there if it wants to show it cares about our children.

10 months post-election

Within the first 10 months of a new administration, we should start to see the emergence of more substantial, and ‘whole government’ reforms to improve the lives of children and their families. One thing we should demand is that by this point ministers should publish a national play strategy.

Play aids development, social skills and boosts mental health. It’s essential to our children’s wellbeing and should be a right. Access to both time and spaces to play for our young people has been squeezed over recent years. Ministers need a proper strategy to turn this around.  From this week and informed by my book, I am leading the new, 12-month long, Raising the Nation Play Commission to deliver a framework and plan for government to consider in delivering such a strategy.

After 10 months it will also be time for the government to put its money where its mouth is. Where could they begin? How about the proper delivery of early years childcare?

The current government’s plan on free childcare is in tatters. The National Audit Office’s warnings throw into doubt whether the required 85,000 places for children can really be achieved without crippling nurseries. Even so, Labour has committed to delivering it. This will be a challenge, but it is by no means impossible, if the government makes it a priority and works with the sector to ensure the plan succeeds.

10 years post-election

Perhaps the most important thing we need to see from whoever is in Number 10 on the 5 July is an end to the short-term thinking which has characterised recent governments and led to our children and young people being increasingly deprioritised. To truly secure the sort of future we want for the next generation, and ultimately for our country, we need to consider structural change. The government must incorporate the UN Convention of the Rights of Child into UK law, finally giving children and their parents legal recourse to challenge ministers or local authorities when their internationally recognised rights are not met.

Finally, the Prime Minister in Number 10 after election day should make truly world class, universal childcare the core of a brand-new National Children’s Service, which would coordinate the work of siloed government departments to support our children, across every aspect of their development, wellbeing, welfare and right to equal opportunity. A National Children’s Service could be the next government’s most enduring legacy, one for which future generations would owe it a debt of gratitude.