SCOTTISH Labour leader Johann Lamont has unveiled an ambitious long-term plan to slash the cost of childcare in a speech calling for a new era of post-referendum politics.
Addressing an invited audience of supporters and charity sector representatives in Edinburgh, Ms Lamont set out proposals to cap the cost of nursery care at 10 per cent of average earnings, equivalent to fees of approximately £200 per month.
The policy, based on Finland's widely-envied childcare system, will be included in Labour's manifesto for the next Holyrood election in 2016, she said.
Labour was unable to put a cost on the policy, which would save families hundreds of pounds compared with current average childcare costs of £650 per month.
However, aides said it would be phased in over a number of years and accompanied by moves to bring public, third sector and private nursery provision up to the same standard and integrating it into the education system.
As an immediate step, Labour would spend up to £35 million providing free nursery places for women and single fathers who wished to work.
The SNP claimed later the full package would cost between £1.4 billion and £2.1bn.
As reported yesterday, Ms Lamont also called on the SNP and other parties to agree plans for an expert panel to assess problems in the NHS, including staff shortages, lack of capacity and missed targets, and to plot future reforms.
She said the parties should undertake to back its conclusions, after warning that political rows were preventing urgently-needed action to "fix our NHS".
In June, Health Secretary Alex Neil secured agreement from rival parties to work together on long-term health service changes.
The deal, which temporarily curbed political attacks on the Scottish Government's record, collapsed during the referendum campaign over the Yes campaign's claim - branded a "lie" by opponents - that the devolved NHS was under threat from privatisation of services south of the Border.
The Scottish Government had rejected Ms Lamont's call to set up an independent panel even before she delivered her speech, suggesting she wanted to "pass the buck". Yesterday she said it was a "pre-referendum answer to a post-referendum challenge".
Announcing the"affordable" childcare plan, Ms Lamont said the cost cap would "not happen overnight" but added: "If the political will exists to make it happen, then we can do it step by step. We cannot make all childcare free. But we can make it affordable."
The move was welcomed by children's charities Barnados, Children 1st and Save the Children.
Ms Lamont used her speech to herald a "new phase" in politics following the referendum, saying: "The challenge for us all is to unite our country behind the decision the people of Scotland have made and work towards a fairer, better country - not the what could have been of the 45 but the what can be of the 100."
SNP MSP Clare Adamson said: "We need to secure the right package of powers to fund and deliver real change - not fantasy figures plucked out of thin air by Labour."
Theresa Fyffe, director of Royal College of Nursing Scotland, and Dr Peter Bennie, chairman of the BMA in Scotland, both welcomed the call to take politics out of efforts to reform the health service. Dr Bennie said: "We need to have a public debate about how to ensure the future sustainability of our NHS."
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