MP warns over loss of 'tough love' parenting

Labour backbencher Frank Field, who has been commissioned by Prime Minister David Cameron to lead a review into poverty and life chances, said a failure to lay down clear boundaries for behaviour, particularly in poorer households, made children less likely to thrive.

He warned that the life chances of most poorer children were decided by the time they reached five.

And he said his report, due in December, will urge the Government to make support during the crucial first years of a child's life its priority and to undertake "a radical overhaul of a whole sweep of early-years policies".

Mr Field pleaded for early-years support to be spared the axe in Chancellor George Osborne's spending review on October 20.

And he made clear that he would prefer to see cash benefits for poorer families be restricted rather than services for young children cut. A 1.2 billion increase in child tax credit announced by Mr Osborne in June could have paid for a doubling in the work of children's centres, he said.

In comments released ahead of a lecture tomorrow, Mr Field argued that financial support for disadvantaged families was a "blunt and inadequate weapon" without support for parenting of the kind the centres provide.

He said: "An increasing number of British parents have moved from the tried and tested 'tough love' approach to parenting to more informal and casual arrangements."

"The losers from this move have been children, and particularly poorer children."