The Conservatives propose to increase maternity pay, make childcare tax deductible and enable grandparents to become childminders more easily.

Labour will pledge an end to latch-key kids offering affordable school-based childcare from breakfast clubs in the morning to after school clubs in the evening.

Which political party has the best childcare policy? Should schools stay open longer? What sort of childcare provision are you looking for? Send us your comments and experiences using the postform.

This debate is now closed. Read a selection of your comments below.

The following comments reflect the balance of opinion we have received so far:

It's a wonderful opportunity to have help from the Government Angie Wood, Nr Canterbury, Kent

I went back to work when my child was 6 weeks old because I couldn't afford to stay at home. No childcare help was ever offered to me and I think it's a wonderful opportunity to have help from the Government - if they come up with what they promise!
Angie Wood, Nr Canterbury, Kent

Some people seem to think it unfair that they subsidise those who choose to have children. If they did not have to fund childcare through taxes, would they also be prepared to miss out on the extra social care they are likely to need when elderly?
Jon G, Huddersfield UK

On the one hand they say that smacking is bad parenting, now it seems OK to pack your kids off at 7.00am and collect them at 7.00pm. Kids aren't fashion accessories. If you want them then at least take the trouble and responsibility to look after them and be a family.
Cyril Preece, Tamworth, UK

It really annoys me when people use these issues to complain about paying tax to support other people's children. Well the simple matter is, everybody needs our children - they will be the ones paying taxes to support us and fill the pension blackhole of recent years. Don't be so naive - you may not want your own children but maintaining the country's birth rate is important. So if that means more nursery places or better after school provision - so be it. Our children will be the ones who take our country forward - let's not hold them back.
Kelly, Portsmouth

Any policy that encourages parents to stop parenting is bad. Government should be reducing working hours and shifting the work-life balance back in favour of the family. As for those childless people, we all have choices in life, you chose not to have children. Personally having children was the best thing that ever happened to me and I would love to spend more time with them.
David Jackson, Sunderland

Perhaps it's time for mothers to put the interests of their children before their careers Peter, London

As a single person with no children I object to paying through my taxes for all these benefits to parents. If a woman gives birth it is her job to bring the child up with the father supporting her - perhaps it's time for mothers to put the interests of their children before their careers and not expect handouts from those of us who pay too much tax.
Peter, London

People without children do not want to subsidise those with children. The healthy resent paying for the sick. The young detest supporting the old. What a mean selfish reactionary society.
Dr Yousef Abdulla, Orpington, UK

Instead of simply improving childcare options, the government should be making it more affordable for one of the parents to stay at home as a full-time parent look after their children themselves - something many couples just can not afford to do even if they want to. After all, we don't have children because we want someone else to bring them up for us, do we?
Kate, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

Some form of tax relief for childcare expenses incurred by working parents (as proposed by the Tories) is long overdue.
Hugh, Cambridge, UK

Neither. The Tories are going back to Victorian values - surprise surprise - let's chain every woman to the kitchen sink! Labour's answer? Stick kids in school from dawn to dusk. Has anyone asked the teachers or teaching assistants about this?
Julie, Newcastle

I think the idea of wrap around childcare based at schools is terrible! Emma, Cambridge

I think the idea of wrap around childcare based at schools is terrible! Parents should not expect teachers to bring their children up for them. If you have a child you are undertaking to look after it and give it the best upbringing, and I don't think putting it into a nursery as soon as possible then leaving it at school for the working day is the best way to do that.
Emma, Cambridge

If the government wants to put more money in the pockets of parents then they should tackle the insanity that is the housing market.
Mike Burns, Evesham

I have one daughter and a non-working wife. We just want to be left alone, free from all these gimmicks, so I can keep more of my money to spend on my family. Enough of this daft social engineering.
Andrew, London, UK

Some of us who have disabled children don't have the choice to work. We have to be there for our children - before school, after school, holidays, in-service days etc etc. But on the other hand, we had children to actually look after them, not expect someone else to raise them!
Jane, UK

I am sick to death of the baby-machines getting all the support. A local family with six kids can afford to buy a new people carrier, and happily admit that it is all because of the various tax breaks and credits.
John Atkins, Bridgwater, England

Somebody will have to support you in your old age when you pension fund disappears Rob, Dorset, UK

In response to comments about only having children if you can afford them. I agree in part, but things are never that simple! My wife and I made a decision to have only one child on these grounds, and for the first year all was fine. Then I had to move for work. After being saddled with tax after tax (stamp duty, rise in fuel costs, huge rise in council tax, etc. etc.) we suddenly found our savings evaporating and my wife was forced to go back to work part-time. Even then, this only just pays as nursery fees account for more than 50% of my wife's wages. Also, some of us have to have children you know - somebody will have to support you in your old age when you pension fund disappears (assuming you can afford one that is!)
Rob, Dorset, UK

What I would very much like to see/have is a facility where a working parent supporting their family would have their tax free personal allowance increased according to number of dependants. For example, if I have a child and a stay at home partner I get three personal allowances and pay no higher rate tax until my income reaches three times basic rate limit. Not that I could hope to earn that much, but taxation definitely reached silly levels. Time for some payback.
Natalie, Essex, UK

It appears that nowadays people have children for 2 reasons. Either because they actually want to look after them and want to spend time with them as a family or because they want to get a council house and live off benefits and having children is the best way to do that. Offering to take children away from parents for even more time, unfortunately would only encourage the latter type.
Tracy, Bourne End

If we are to get a childcare policy that works ask the people who will be the actual customers Adrian Cannon, Edinburgh, Scotland

I have no children but I do remember being a child and the one group who are never asked what they want is the children, and then we wonder why they misbehave and get into trouble. If we are to get a childcare policy that works ask the people who will be the actual customers.
Adrian Cannon, Edinburgh, Scotland

Is it really the government's job to provide "Breakfast Clubs" for people's children? What parents do with the children is an individual matter.
Jon, Uckfield, Sussex, UK

I would be interested to find out if the Conservatives will be keeping the Tax Credit system? Although it's a nightmare to obtain the correct credits currently, they do help towards the cost of sending my daughter to nursery. Without them I simply would be better off out of work and on benefits. Or perhaps that's what all these childless people want?!
AN, Kent, UK

Any party that panders to parents and wastes my taxes on child related gimmicks will lose my vote.
Keith, England

It's about time the political parties gave something back to those who are childless Pete, UK

I agree with Jayne Beaumont's comments. It's about time the political parties gave something back to those who are childless. For too long we have been subsidising other people's children and have been constantly overlooked in terms of political policies.
Pete, UK

On one hand Tony Blair states that he's going to improve childcare, and put an end to latchkey kids. On the other, he endorses the family courts, who are removing perfectly good fathers - who could help with childcare - from the lives of thousands of children. Yet no one seems to notice this contradiction.
Lee, Castleford

For some reason, I suspect that these policies will result in a double whammy for muggins here. I will end up working more anti-social hours to cover parents, whilst my taxes go towards paying them to do this...
Chris Rose, Oxon

Children are our future taxpayers without whom our economy would be in crisis in 20-30 years time Beena, Wembley, UK

I really wish that both the government and childless couples would realise that children are our future taxpayers without whom our economy would be in crisis in 20-30 years time. Why are parents who want to have and look after their children always made to feel like they are doing something wrong just because they are not paying taxes at that particular time? Does anyone not realise that we have paid taxes before we had children and more importantly we are contributing to the future of this country. Without my children Joanna of Oxford who will pay your pension when you retire? Any party which puts the emphasis back on the family unit and does not see us as cash cows for taxation purposes will get my vote!
Beena, Wembley, UK

According to the Office of National Statistics, only 30% of households in 2002 had dependent children. Why are 30% getting more attention and need analysis than the remaining 70? Politicians believe that these people are the key voters but considering that at the next election most of the voters will be over 50 (and therefore unlikely to have dependent children) shouldn't pensions and healthcare be their key focus?
CJ Anderson, Biggin Hill, UK

The government is paying parents child care, then paying 16 year olds up to �30 a week to stay at school, then parents have to contribute vast amounts to get their children through university. It's just money juggling and no one is the winner long term.
E Page, Leics, UK

What is either party doing about paternity leave? Jerry, Basingstoke, UK

Why is only maternity pay mentioned? What is either party doing about paternity leave? This should be extended to at least six weeks and the party that does so gets my vote.
Jerry, Basingstoke, UK

I have just read the BBC Online report regarding childcare provision proposals in the run up to the election and am appalled at Tony Blair's statement, "take the burden off parents". When will this Labour government listen to the populous and realise that we do NOT see children as a "burden" rather as a "blessing" and as such would prefer the "burden" of taxation to be made easier. This government has done its level best to undervalue and undermine the "family" in all its shapes and sizes by making it increasingly difficult and expensive to rear and nurture it at all.
H. Fowler, UK

How about more encouragement for mothers to stay at home if they want to? Being able to transfer a mother's tax allowance to her partner would help.
Jane, Surrey, UK

Everyone has clear roles Marie, Glasgow, Scotland

On the few days of the month when my husband and I work on the same days due to the clash of shifts, our child goes to a registered childminder. She clearly knows who her parents are, grandparents and childminder. Everyone has clear roles. Our parents have had their day of bringing up their children. They are now entitled to enjoy their retirement, including their grandchildren. But not to bring them up as free childcare!!
Marie, Glasgow, Scotland

Personally, I'm sick of all political parties pledging to provide better childcare and other policies aimed at people with children. It's about time they realised that not everybody who votes has kids. I want to know what they will be proposing for people like my husband and myself - thirty somethings who work full-time, have a mortgage and a car!!
Jayne Beaumont, Blackpool, UK

This is just a gimmick to get stay at home parents into work and paying taxes. My partner stays at home to look after the kids. As usual, more pressure on her to abandon the kids to go to work. More taxes to pay for more bombs.
Adrian, UK

It's a complete joke, people keep going on about how they don't want to be part of a 'nanny state' yet they expect the taxpayers to subsidise their children. If you can't afford to have children, then quite frankly you should not be having them. And while I'm writing, why is there never anything for the tax-paying singles and childless????
Joanna, Oxford