Editor's view

Just two weeks to go until election day - so who will get your vote? To help you decide, read our Special Report this week (pages 10-11) for a handy summary of the main political parties' early years and childcare policies. It's interesting to see that, despite ideological differences, Labour, the LibDems and Conservatives would all increase maternity pay. Elsewhere, there is more divergence, with the Tories setting out plans to boost unregulated childcare. The LibDems look to be promising to keep the main elements of the ten-year strategy while increasing the amount of free nursery education, for example.