Keir Starmer – 2020 Comments on Summer Support for Parents

The text of the comments made by Keir Starmer, the Leader of the Opposition, on 19 July 2020.

We all want society to get moving again, but it requires a clear plan and national leadership from the government. Despite ordering millions of parents back to the office, the Prime Minister has refused to provide any extra help for families, penalising parents by putting them in an impossible position.

Parents got a back-to-work notice on Friday just as the summer holidays began. But they got no support for structured activities, no summer catch-up schemes, and no support for a childcare sector on its knees.

If we are going to reopen our society and economy safely and successfully, we need the public to have confidence in the government’s advice, we need test, track and trace to be working properly, and we need proper support for children to learn and for parents to get back to work.