This week was a huge moment for the Campaign for Gigi. 

After almost two years of campaigning for safer standards, inspections, and regulation of the nursery sector, the Government has announced a huge package of measures that would make nurseries safer and put child safeguarding at the forefront of the sector.

£8 million will be spent on strengthening safeguarding across early years, 3,000 more unannounced Ofsted visits will now take place to spot risks, and stronger checks on new nurseries before they open will happen.

As well as this, new legislation will be introduced in September which will set out specific and enforceable standards for how babies and young children must be placed and monitored during sleep in early years settings. 

These changes are a testament to the tireless campaigning of Gigi’s parents, John and Katie Meehan.

Gigi was just nine months old when she died in a nursery in Cheadle Hulme. A nursery worker was later sentenced to 14 years for manslaughter after leaving Gigi tightly swaddled and face down on a bean bag for an hour and a half.  

Gigi’s death was not an accident. It was a failure of a system that does not work and currently puts the lives of children at risk. 

Last year the BBC reported there were on average 75 incident reports to Ofsted every week, a 40% rise in just five years. Horrendous cases in Twickenham, Camden and Dudley have also brought the safety of nurseries in this country to question. 

Parallel to this, another BBC investigation highlighted the work of so-called ‘infant sleep experts’. These people, who often sell their advice on social media, would provide support and guidance to parents on getting babies to sleep better. 

The BBC found that in many cases these so-called experts urged parents to dismiss safe sleeping guidance and instead place babies face down to sleep, a practice that dramatically increases the likelihood of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). 

Following this investigation, I wrote to the Secretary of Health and Social Care, demanding tighter regulations on the sleep guidance industry. An industry full of charlatan practitioners, providing dangerous and life-threatening advice to parents, many of whom are at their most vulnerable and panicked.  

It’s clear that from the examples above that the early years sector is dangerously under regulated which can be exploited by those wishing to make a quick profit without regard to any risk.

This is why the Campaign for Gigi has been so important. 

I first met John and Katie just after getting elected in 2024. Their story is truly heartbreaking, and as a dad of a young daughter myself, I can’t even begin to imagine the heartbreak they have suffered. 

But, after working with them so closely on the Campaign for Gigi, I can see how they have channelled that heartbreak and love for their daughter to ensure that no parent goes through what they have suffered. They want to Gigi’s legacy to be one that saves lives and protects children. 

I am proud that we are achieving that. I am proud that the campaign has already made nurseries safer, and that new inspection regimes will be in place to ensure children are protected and parents can have more confidence in a sector that has been woefully unregulated.

We have more work to do. We still have to win the argument around CCTV usage in nurseries, ensuring that it is used more widely as a preventative measure in early years settings for example. And we must crack down on the so-called sleep experts pushing out dangerous information and guidance to make a quick buck.

But I am confident we can do it, and I am confident that Gigi’s name will become synonymous with a movement that saved lives and made children safer.  

* Tom Morrison is hte Lib Dem MP for Cheadle.