Today’s Independent editorial has some heartening words about the approach of Liberal Democrats within the Government and our ongoing policy making process.

The background to the motion on childcare is explored:

And there’s acknowledgement of a key achievement in Government and a look forward to the manifesto:

One of the little-appreciated decisions made by the Lib Dems at an early stage of the spending round was that it would cover one year only, 2015-16. That frees the coalition parties to set out different tax and spending priorities for the next parliament. Thus we can see the Lib Dem manifesto for the election coming into shape. Extending taxpayer-funded childcare will be one plank of the platform. Another is the mansion tax, for which Mr Clegg pushed but which David Cameron ruled out emphatically. A third example is that the Lib Dem leadership has admitted its error in allowing the extension of secret courts in the Justice and Security Act to go through and now wants to pledge to reverse it if it were returned to government.

Of course, there’s the obligatory prediction about how coalition negotiations will proceed:

The hardening of Lib Dem policy-making, which is still more democratic than that of the other main parties, means that disasters such as the tuition fees U-turn would be less likely. It also provides a more solid basis on which to conduct coalition negotiations, should there be another hung parliament. And what is interesting about the childcare policy and the mansion tax is that they are both subjects on which it is easier to imagine Labour and the Lib Dems reaching agreement than a continuation of the present coalition.

Indeed, The Independent on Sunday could support both policies. Good quality childcare, free at the point of provision, is a liberating option to offer parents. And it should be universal, to ensure that it does not become a poor service for poor people – unlike the current provision for two-year-olds, which is restricted to families on low incomes.