Andrea Leadsom lavishes praise on Sure Start centres – and is reminded austerity destroyed them
From HuffPost UK: Tory Commons leader Andrea Leadsom was reminded “appalling” Government cuts have closed more than 1,000 Sure Start centres after lavishing praise on them in parliament.
The leader of the Commons was speaking at an event on women’s rights when she said the late Dame Tessa Jowell, the politician credited with creating Sure Start, had been an inspiration to her. Leadsom went on to say Sure Start centres had been Jowell’s “proudest achievement” and they had“helped to support millions of families in the UK”.
Figures released by Labour and the Sutton Trust show that cutbacks to local government budgets have closed around 1,240 Sure Start centres – a third of the total – across the country since the coalition came to power in 2010.