Chuka Umunna, Labour parliamentary candidate for Streatham, has pledged to secure Streatham’s nine Sure Start centres, which are under threat from cuts by both opposition parties.

Sure Start children’s centres are ‘one stop shops’ for parents with children under five providing services including childcare, healthcare, parenting advice, family support and helping parents get back into work or training.

The Conservatives have identified the Sure Start programme as a key area for future cuts, and want to slash its national budget by £200m per year – the equivalent of closing one in every five Sure Start centres.
This week Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg caused controversy by speaking of the need for ’savage and bold’ cuts at his party’s annual conference in Bournemouth, sparking a debate about which areas of government spending should be protected.

The threat to Streatham’s Sure Start centres comes just as local families
need them most – it provides local free childcare for all three and four
year olds.

Last week was national Sure Start Children’s Centres week, celebrating the success of the programme and promoting the services which children’s centres offer.

Commenting on the threat to Sure Start, Chuka Umunna said:

“Although it is clear that the government needs to rein in spending where it can in the current economic climate, we must not undermine the achievements of the past decade, of which Sure Start is one of the proudest.

“Sure Start makes a huge difference to the lives of parents and children in Streatham every day. We must not put that in jeopardy with all this talk of ’savage’ cuts.”