PRIMARY schools are to be encouraged to take infants as young as six weeks old in private nurseries as part of Gordon Brown’s plan to win the votes of working parents.

The political battle to be the party of the family will intensify this week as the chancellor announces moves to allow schools to provide the childcare required by mothers who want to return to work.

The 10-year childcare strategy, which arose partly out of Labour’s so-called “big conversation” with voters, has been championed by Tony Blair and Alan Milburn, as well as the chancellor.

Party strategists see it as key to Labour’s ambition for creating a “society of opportunity”, which will be one of its main themes in the forthcoming election. The Conservatives have already outlined some of their strategies, including allowing new fathers to share a year’s paid leave with the new mother.

Under Labour’s plans, primary schools will be funded to set up private fee-paying day nurseries for infants and young children, as well as providing breakfast clubs and after-school activities for their pupils.

While they will not be forced to run the nurseries, the government believes that schools are well placed to provide the kind of activities that prepare children for formal education.

Research published last week by the Department for Education suggested that children, whatever their home background, do better at school if they have attended a high quality nursery from the age of two. On average, seven-year-olds who had been to a good nursery for three years achieved scores in maths and English 50% higher than those who had not.

Caroline Wright, who works for the Prince’s Trust in London, is sure that her two children got a head start by being at a nursery from the age of three. “They were getting used to the idea of learning. They developed social skills because they interacted with other children as well as adults,” she said.

At the centre of Brown’s childcare strategy, to be announced with the chancellor’s pre-budget report on Thursday, is funding for an expansion of nursery and pre-school places for working parents from 8.30am to 6pm. It may also be linked to an offer that new parents should be entitled to up to a year off. Part of that allocation could be taken by fathers.

The Conservatives will claim that Labour is interfering in family life. Michael Howard, the Conservative leader, believes that parents would prefer to be able to offset the cost of childcare against tax and to be able to pay their relatives — mainly grandparents — to look after their children.

The Conservatives will argue that government policies are too rigid, dictating to parents how they should behave rather than letting them make choices. Party strategists believe mothers feel forced back to work.

Last week Margaret Hodge, the children’s minister, sparked “nanny state” complaints with the promise of a booklet that will tell parents how to bring up their children.

The government’s plans have also been dismissed as unrealistic by Robert Whelan of Civitas, the think tank. “High quality childcare is expensive and they won’t be able to deliver. There will be lots of rhetoric but there won’t be the money.”

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