IF, AS Lady Thatcher suggests, the government needs to win back favour with the disaffected middle class, it may well begin that process with its scheme for nursery school vouchers.

But that will only be as a result of handing Middle England a cash perk - in the form of the £1,100 vouchers - rather than making nursery education more available for all.

The notion of encouraging more parents to seek pre-school experience for their children is, of course, sound.

But since public-sector nursery provision is, at best, patchy and, particularly for parents on lower incomes, the alternative is expensive, it does not follow that the voucher scheme will improve choice. That is because many less well-off parents will still not be able to afford to top up the fees, whereas those of the middle class already making use of the facilities for their children and paying for the privilege will, with the vouchers, simply have the cost burden reduced.

They may possibly thank the government with their votes.

But, surely, the voucher scheme is a half-cock venture.

The ideal goal would be to lower the primary school admission age to four nationwide and have that under-pinned by a system of quality nursery education for all three-year-olds - though the bill for it would frighten both politicians and taxpayers.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.