Epping Forest MP Eleanor Laing this week unveiled her pre-election manifesto aimed at securing the health, education and welfare of children under the age of five.

Before writing it, Mrs Laing, 43, visited the Rum Tum Tuggers nursery in North Weald as part of a Parliamentary contest to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Pre-school Learning Alliance.

After talking for two hours with her young constituents, Mrs Laing, who recently announced she is pregnant and expecting her first child in July, formulated a five point manifesto.

It pledges that children should:

Spend their day in an environment that is safe, warm and comfortable.

Have fun and enjoy their childhood.

Be encouraged to meet other children, to communicate with each other, and to make friends.

Learn and have fun while learning.

Be encouraged to develop their skills and aptitudes from an early age. They should be encouraged to read and to handle books, which are the tools through which we learn.

Mrs Laing was full of praise for the work of the Rum Tum Tuggers nursery, which is based in Vicarage Lane West.

"I was very impressed by the work that is being done there and I could see that all the children were happy in what they were doing," she said. "They were all clearly enjoying themselves."

She stressed the importance of introducing children to books early in life and added that she would like to see more state and private nursery school places made available.

"I think we always need more nursery school places. It's important that children should learn from an early age and gain an understanding of what books are," she said.

"But current Government policy on business rates has made it very hard for some nurseries to keep going.

"They get no special status under the Uniform Business Rate. I have complained about this previously and I will continue to do so."

Mrs Laing's manifesto will now go forward to be judged alongside those by other MPs who have entered the competition.

Pre-school Learning Alliance spokesman Rob Checketts said that all MPs had been invited to take part and that so far over 100 had contributed manifestos.

A panel of leading political journalists will choose the best one by an MP from each of the main political parties before the next General Election.

The text of the winning entries will then be published as a policy document by the Pre-school Learning Alliance.

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