Letters:<strong> John Bercow </strong>says<strong> </strong>the early years programme was a crucial life enhancer for millions of children and could be a key election battleground. Plus letters from <strong>Prof Gary Craig</strong>, <strong>Deborah Hayter</strong>, <strong>Keith Reed </strong>and<strong> Ian Wrigglesworth</strong>
Labour’s deputy leader is northern, working class and a strong woman – so obviously Tories and the Conservative press are out to bring her down ahead of a general election where she will be a major asset on the doorstep, says John Rentoul
Labour, unsurprisingly, is crowing about a paper published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies claiming that Tony Blair’s Sure Start centres improved the GCSE results of children from low-income families a decade after attending the centres. Children who lived within 2.5 km of a Sure Start Centre before 5, it finds, went on to score