Claire Coutinho makes a cliff-edge U-turn

One policy proposal recently put forward by the Conservatives is a plan to scrap the so-called “childcare cliff edge”, which currently sees parents lose their entitlement to additional free childcare if they earn even a penny over £100,000 a year. This will, apparently, be paid for by the old favourite, “cutting unnecessary bureaucracy”.

Shadow business secretary Claire Coutinho was quick to voice her support, posting on Facebook that the proposal was “the right thing to do” as it would “stop parents being punished for taking a promotion or working extra hours”.

But this is not the first time questions have been raised about changing the £100,000 earnings threshold.

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Back in 2023, Andrew Rosindell, then a Conservative backbencher (and now a Reform MP), tabled a written parliamentary question asking whether the government had any plans to scrap the £100,000 limit for free additional childcare.

The response came from the then childcare minister, who confirmed that the Conservative government had no plans to increase the threshold. This was justified by the minister as it affected only “approximately two per cent of parents” and that the government needed to “ensure that funding is targeted to those parents who need it”.

And who was the childcare minister who dismissed the prospect of changing the threshold? None other than, er, Claire Coutinho!