"Babysitting networks"?

Disparagingly, a Labour spokesperson says:

Just last week the Government suggested babysitting networks might be the solution to childcare for job-seeking solo parents.

I'd like to know who floated that idea and send them a bouquet.

I have long said that if people being paid by the state to look after just one child (the case with about half of those on the DPB) provided care for two more, then a whole lot more people who want to work could. In fact there would be no need for welfare as earned income was redistributed between working parents and carers.

This is how communities should operate through voluntary, constructive cooperation. When Labour pooh-poohs these sorts of common sense ideas they look like the usual state-is-best bunch of socialists they have always been.

 (The spokesperson was mixing two issues by the way. Care for babies and free ECE which kicks in at 3).