I joined the Labour Party 31 years ago because I believe in equality and everyone getting the opportunities they need and deserve. Nowhere is that focus more important than our children and their start in life. It sets the tone for everything. Tony Blair always made it clear that his priorities were education, education, education. But if a child can’t access education, because of the barriers they have, then we are failing those children before they have even begun.

It’s the mission of this government to break the link between a child’s background and what they go on to achieve. Initiatives from the last Labour government like Sure Start helped level the playing field in Cornwall and further afield. Sure Start revolutionised family and community services, with research showing that children who lived within a short distance of a Sure Start centre for their first five years were 0.9 percentage points more likely to achieve five good GCSEs at age 16. It wasn’t just hugely beneficial for children. When I knocked on doors during the general election I met parents, mainly women, who had been supported by Sure Start during the last Labour government and who had been able to go on, with the springboard of that support, to build their own lives and employment prospects.

The Conservative government ripped out the heart and structure of Sure Start as part of its austerity agenda, never really seeing that supporting parents and children at the start saved heartache and money further down the line.

Now, this government is going to start rolling out up to 1,000 Best Start Family Hubs in every local authority by April 2026 to provide wide-ranging help for families, such as parenting, early development and childcare. These hubs will build on the legacy of Sure Start, acting as a one stop shop for parents seeking a range of support, including on difficulty breastfeeding, housing issues or children’s early development and language.

Backed by more than £500-million, the rollout will help transform the existing Family Hubs and Start for Life programme, creating 1,000 hubs by 2028. We already have excellent Family Hubs in Truro and Falmouth. I visited St Pauls Family Hub in Truro and The Park and Lighthouse Hubs in Falmouth. But they survive on a shoestring of funding from different sources and pots and therefore have to be targeted in their provision. This focus will hopefully allow them to expand and grow. Making sure that parents are able to benefit from more early help is a promise this government intends to keep.

The ‘Giving every child the best start in life’ strategy the government published last week expresses that vision and explains more widely how it will become a reality. The first steps are already set out. Alongside that, the Best Start Hubs will help to put the first building blocks of better life chances in place for more children and their parents.