Nanny Hunt

Barely a fortnight after a Conservative Party expenses claimant squealed about the British dying out, the Chancellor has paid a visit to the magic money tree for an electoral bribe to breeders. The pittance that Universal Credit claimants receive for child support is to be raised from next month, and the Government will show its trust by allowing parents to receive most of the money directly, rather than foricng them to pay for childcare and then claim back the costs of their skipped meals and unused utilities. A recruitment drive for child-minders is also in the offing, and the Department for Education is about to start a consultation on expanding the charmingly Dickension-sounding "early years workforce." Whether such culturally non-Marxist handouts will prove sufficient to restore the breeding stock of the master race remains as yet unclear.