Britain is facing a family crisis that politicians do not talk about nearly enough. Birthrates are now the lowest since records began. More and more young people are delaying having children – or deciding they simply cannot afford to have a family at all. When you look at the cost of raising children today, it is easy to see why.

Families are feeling the pinch. Many now spend more than £250,000 raising a child to the age of 18. For many parents, the pressure starts long before school, with childcare costs that have risen far faster than wages for years.

This government’s expansion of 30 hours funded childcare in England has made a real difference. Eligible families using 30 hours can save on average £8,000 a year per child, and more than 530,000 families are already benefiting.

This is proving nothing short of transformative for thousands of families, getting costs back to 2005 levels for a child in a part-time place. A full-time place costs more than a third less than it did last year.

My department alone is putting in a record £9.5bn this year, and across all government programmes we fund more than 80% of all childcare spending in the country. That is on top of school-based nurseries, Best Start Family Hubs and........

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