Childcare Bill

I take the point that Governments can fail as well as markets, but I slightly take issue with the hon. Gentleman’s intervention—I should say, in our mutual admiration society, that I have the highest respect for him, too—because I am afraid that what we hear from Opposition Members is not simply a desire for competition and for the private and voluntary sector not to be put out of business, but a gut problem about the state extending its role in this area. They have not really come to terms with that. I should probably exclude the hon. Gentleman from that category, because he tends to have much more enlightened views on these matters than other of his hon. Friends.