Tory MPs have hit back at Rishi Sunak’s plans to shelve an overhaul of England’s childcare system, warning that the “complex and expensive” early years sector requires urgent reform.
The Prime Minister is understood to be scrapping changes to the childcare system drawn up by his predecessor Liz Truss, who proposed increasing free childcare by 20 hours a week and relaxing limits on staff-to-child ratios.
Ms Truss said the “big bang” reforms that she planned to bring in before Christmas would help reduce the cost of childcare in England, which is currently the second-highest among developed nations.
However, Mr Sunak is reportedly preparing to postpone the policy drive indefinitely, with the scale of reforms now expected to be much smaller, according to the Daily Telegraph.
The move has sparked a backlash among prominent Tory backbenchers, who called on the Prime Minister to “knock [it] on the head quickly”.
