WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Democratic U.S. Senator Joe Manchin said on Wednesday he will vote against Daniel Werfel for Internal Revenue Service commissioner, a week after President Joe Biden’s nominee to head the agency was approved by a Senate committee.

Manchin, who has often blocked Biden’s legislative priorities, said he was opposing Werfel on the basis of the Biden administration’s implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act, a sprawling tax and climate bill that Manchin was key in passing.

“At every turn, this Administration has ignored Congressional intent when implementing the Inflation Reduction Act,” Manchin said in a statement.

“While Daniel Werfel is supremely qualified to serve as the IRS Commissioner, I have zero faith he will be given the autonomy to perform the job in accordance with the law and for that reason, I cannot support his nomination,” he added.

Manchin’s vote is important as Democrats currently control the Senate by a thin 51-49 majority, including three independents who caucus with them. Two Democrats – Senators John Fetterman and Dianne Feinstein – are currently out with medical issues.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Werfel received bipartisan support in a Senate committee vote advancing his nomination last week.

Manchin this week helped scuttle Biden’s pick for a key fifth seat on the Federal Communications Commission by signaling his opposition to nominee Gigi Sohn, who withdrew on Tuesday.

Manchin represents West Virginia, a former Democratic stronghold state that has trended Republican in recent decades. He has not yet said if he will run for re-election in 2024, but would likely face a tough battle to retain his seat.

(Reporting by Moira Warburton and Kanishka Singh; writing by Rami Ayyub; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

(Reuters) – Russia-based private equity firm Insight Investment Group has acquired the Russian leasing arm of farm equipment maker Deere & Co, a state register of corporate entities showed.

Insight Investment Group confirmed the acquisition of John Deere Financial LLC, a subsidiary of the U.S. company, but declined to disclose the price. It said the deal had obtained approval from a Russian government commission on the control of foreign investment.

Russia has tightened rules on asset sales by investors from so-called “unfriendly” countries – those that have imposed sanctions against Moscow over its actions in Ukraine.

Those selling stakes in Russian assets may now have to do so at half price or less, the finance ministry has said, with the Russian budget potentially taking a 10% cut of any transaction.

John Deere last March suspended shipments of machines to Russia and subsequently Belarus, saying it was deeply saddened by the “significant escalation of events in Ukraine”.

The company could not immediately be reached for comment on Wednesday.

Insight has issued bonds worth more than 100 billion roubles ($1.32 billion) and said it used some of those funds to buy both John Deere Financial and a leasing arm from engineering company Siemens AG last year.

“Our goal is to build a leasing holding which will unite leasing companies with different areas of expertise,” Insight Group said. “Following this strategy, we have acquired John Deere Financial and do not exclude making other deals in this market.”

($1 = 75.9530 roubles)

(Reporting by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

(Reuters) -Streaming platform Roku Inc said on Wednesday it has hired former finance chief of personalized styling service company Stitch Fix Inc Dan Jedda as its chief financial officer.

Jedda, who has spent 15 years in leadership roles at Amazon.com Inc, will start in his new role on May 1 and will succeed Steve Louden.

Roku had in its latest earnings report said it will cut costs while forecasting better-than-expected quarterly revenue on higher ad spends on the platform.

The company’s shares, which were down 1% on Wednesday, have gained more than 50% so far this year as investors backed its plans to trim costs, improve ad income and turn a profit in 2024.

Jedda’s departure from Stitch Fix, which was announced by the company on Tuesday, comes months after the exit of its chief executive amid workforce cuts.

Stitch Fix also missed estimates for its second-quarter results and lowered its full-year revenue forecast, signaling waning interest for its curated apparel boxes.

(Reporting by Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)

By Anna Koper

WARSAW (Reuters) -The National Bank of Poland (NBP) on Wednesday slightly lowered its inflation forecasts for the coming three years, reinforcing expectations that interest rates will remain at current levels after it left them unchanged for a sixth consecutive month.

Economists polled by Reuters expect the main interest rate to remain at 6.75% until the end of the year. With no major changes to the inflation outlook those expectations also look unlikely to change.

“We are de facto in wait and see mode and the next move will take place at the end of the year at the earliest,” Pekao analysts said on Twitter. “The new NBP projection has changed practically nothing in the Council’s view of the world.”

Inflation, which was running at an annual rate of 17.2% in January, could fall to the central bank’s target range of 1.5%-3.5% or a level close to that in 2025, the forecast showed.

For this year it forecast an inflation rate of 10.2%-13.5% and 3.9%-7.5% for 2024, marginally lower than in its last set of forecasts released in November.

The NBP slightly raised its forecasts for gross domestic product (GDP) growth to between minus 0.1% and plus 1.8% in 2023 and 1.1%–3.1% in 2024.

The bank stuck to its view that a global slowdown combined with falling commodity prices would help curb price growth in Poland.

While the NBP has not officially ended the tightening cycle it began in 2021, the impact of the war in Ukraine on growth means analysts’ focus has shifted to when borrowing costs could start falling.

Other central banks in the region have also kept rates steady in recent months. In February, the National Bank of Hungary (NBH) held the European Union’s highest benchmark at 13%, defying government pressure to cut borrowing costs amid a sharp economic slowdown.

(Reporting by Alan Charlish, Anna Koper, Pawel Florkiewicz, Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk, Karol Badohal, Editing by Christina Fincher, Kirsten Donovan)

(Reuters) -Piedmont Lithium Inc’s shares rebounded from early losses on Wednesday sparked by comments from short seller Blue Orca Capital, which alleged that mining licenses in Ghana obtained by a company it invested in were through what appeared to be “textbook corruption”.

In 2021, Piedmont invested $100 million in Atlantic Lithium to secure spodumene – high-purity lithium ore – from Atlantic’s mine in Ghana. Piedmont has a spodumene supply agreement with electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc.

Shares of Piedmont were last up 3.2% after falling as much as 6.6% on the report.

Blue Orca alleged that Atlantic obtained key Ghana mining licenses by making secret payments and promises of payments to the immediate family of a high-level politician in Ghana. Reuters could not immediately verify Blue Orca’s allegation.

The short seller said it does not believe that authorities in Ghana will ratify Atlantic’s mining licenses “tainted by corruption”, based on precedents in the country and around Africa.

Piedmont and Atlantic Lithium did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the report.

Piedmont, which is currently valued at roughly $1 billion, in January amended its deal with Tesla to supply spodumene concentrate, a key raw material for making batteries, to the EV maker through 2025.

Founded in 2016 in Australia, Piedmont moved its headquarters to North Carolina in 2021 in hopes of developing a mine that would be one of the largest U.S. lithium mines. However, the project has been delayed due to concerns from local residents and reviews from state regulators.

Piedmont officials told Reuters last year that the company’s first steps in securing lithium supplies would likely then be in Canada or Ghana.

(Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

By Nate Raymond and Diane Bartz

BOSTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department’s lawsuit seeking to halt JetBlue Airways Corp’s planned $3.8 billion acquisition of ultra-low cost carrier Spirit Airlines Inc was reassigned on Wednesday to a judge known for trying to speed cases along to trial.

U.S. District Judge William Young in Boston was randomly assigned the case despite the Justice Department’s contention that the lawsuit should be heard by another judge who is overseeing a separate antitrust case involving JetBlue.

That case brought by the Justice Department seeks to force American Airlines and JetBlue to scrap their U.S. Northeast partnership because it would mean higher prices for consumers. U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin presided over a trial last year in that case but has not yet issued a ruling.

The Justice Department on Tuesday argued that Sorokin should hear the Spirit case as well because both involved “an assessment of JetBlue’s network plans, aircraft orders and configurations, and pricing strategy.”

Sorokin, an appointee of Democratic former President Barack Obama, on Wednesday in a brief order said the Spirit case was wrongly assigned to him because it was “incorrectly marked as related and thus not randomly assigned.”

It was then assigned to Young, a veteran jurist known for setting quick schedules to get cases to trial. Young, appointed by Republican former President Ronald Reagan, has served on the bench since 1985.

The Justice Department and JetBlue declined to comment.

The lawsuit is the latest attempt by President Joe Biden’s administration to push back against further consolidation in industries with the fewest competitors.

In the case filed on Tuesday, the Justice Department said the merger of JetBlue and Spirit would “combine two especially close and fierce head-to-head competitors.” It called the deal “presumptively illegal.” It also said that JetBlue planned to remove 10% to 15% of seats from every Spirit plane.

The Justice Department’s lawsuit was joined by the states of Massachusetts and New York as well as Washington, D.C.

JetBlue has argued that the merger, which would create the fifth-largest U.S. carrier with a market share of 9%, was good for competition and would allow it to better compete with the big airlines.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston and Diane Bartz in Washington; Additional reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Will Dunham)

By Alexander Hübner and Helen Reid

HERZOGENAURACH, Germany/LONDON (Reuters) – Adidas will slash its 2022 dividend, the sportswear maker said on Wednesday, after warning a split with the artist formerly known as Kanye West could push it to its first annual loss in three decades this year.

Chief Executive Bjorn Gulden, speaking to investors for the first time since taking the reins on Jan. 1, pledged to rebuild the bruised brand after dealing with the fallout from ending Adidas’ partnership with West, who now goes by Ye, which yielded the lucrative Yeezy sneaker line.

Adidas has not said how much the Yeezy brand has made since its first deal with Ye at the end of 2013, but analysts estimate it accounted for as much as 7% of total sales in its best years.

The company needs to refocus on its core business and faces a “transition” year before returning to profit in 2024, and will return to its sports-based roots, Gulden said.

“You will see us invest in more sports… because that is the DNA of this company,” he told reporters.

The company will recommend a dividend of 0.70 euros ($0.7374) per share, down from 3.30 euros a share in 2021, at a May 11 annual general meeting, it said.

Adidas shares recovered from early losses to trade up 1.6% by 1530 GMT. They have outperformed rivals Puma and Nike since the start of this year, in a sign that investors back Gulden.

“We believe the shares fail to discount the time it will take to rebuild the brand and margins,” Credit Suisse analyst Simon Irwin said in a note. 

The company cut ties with Ye in October following a series of antisemitic comments he made on social media and in interviews which also prompted Twitter and Instagram to restrict his accounts on their platforms.

Gulden said Adidas was still deciding what to do with its stock of unsold Yeezy footwear. Burning the shoes poses a sustainability issue, he said, while giving them away to charity is complicated due to their resale value, which has surged since the split.

A pair of Yeezy 350 “Zebra” shoes is now selling for between $340 and $360, compared to around $260 four months ago, according to John Mocadlo, CEO of U.S. sneaker reseller Impossible Kicks.

One option could be for Adidas to donate proceeds from the sale of repurposed Yeezy stock to charity, Gulden said.

The split cost Adidas 600 million euros ($632 million) in sales in the fourth quarter of 2022, and Yeezy shoes would have brought in an estimated $1.2 billion in revenue this year.

Gulden said ending Yeezy – a decision that predated his taking the helm – was the right thing to do but added that it was “very sad” and that it would take time for Adidas to build a new brand that is as influential.

Plugging the gap left by Yeezy will not be easy, Gulden said. 

    One area of growth he pointed to was a trend for “terrace” style sneakers like the Samba, Gazelle, and Spezial. He said a pop-up store in Shanghai selling Samba shoes drew queues of shoppers earlier this week.

    “For the first time in a long, long, time people are lining up to buy an Adi product that is not Yeezy.”

LESS DISCOUNTING

Overall, Gulden said Adidas needed to reduce inventory levels and do less discounting. Inventories came in at just under 6 billion euros at the end of December, up 49% from the previous year, including 400 million euros of Yeezy products.

The company forecast 2023 underlying operating profit at roughly break-even when taking into account the $500 million loss from not selling existing Yeezy stock.

If Adidas decides not to repurpose the products, it will write the inventory off altogether, denting profit by another $500 million. That, along with $200 million of one-off costs, would bring Adidas to a $700 million loss this year.

RBC analysts said they see the full write-down as the most likely scenario.

Analysts at Wedbush who track new sneaker product launches said Nike is likely to take market share from Adidas in the absence of new Yeezy designs. 

Adidas has lagged Nike and Puma https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/znvnbxoravl/Adidas.PNG

($1 = 0.9493 euros)

By Ismail Shakil

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada recorded an unexpected trade surplus of C$1.9 billion ($1.38 billion) in January, driven by broad-based gains in exports, while imports posted a smaller increase led by motor vehicles and parts, Statistics Canada data showed on Wednesday.

Analysts had forecast a trade deficit of C$60 million in January. Statscan also revised December’s trade figures to a surplus of C$1.2 billion from an initial C$160 million deficit.

The data points to a “stellar” start to the year that should help lift economic prospects at a time when high interest rates are expected slow the domestic economy, Stuart Bergman, chief economist at Export Development Canada, said in an interview.

The Bank of Canada, which kept rates on hold on Wednesday, has raised rates by a total of 425 basis points over the past year to tame inflation.

Total exports rose 4.2% in January on the back of gains in all product categories that more than offset a fall in energy products exports. Excluding energy, exports rose 6.1% to an all-time high of C$51.6 billion.

Farm, fishing and intermediate food products, motor vehicles and parts, and metal and non-metallic mineral products all contributed roughly equally to the rise in exports, Statscan said. By volume, total exports were up 5.3% in January.

“We saw real gains,” Bergman said, noting the jump in trading volume that made up for a slight drop in prices. “This is pure physical shipments … this is the stuff that we want to see.”

Imports increased 3.1% after two consecutive monthly declines, largely driven by motor vehicles and parts as well as industrial machinery, equipment and parts. Imports of consumer goods also contributed with a 3.8% rise in January after three months of declines. By volume, total imports were up 4.1%.

The Canadian dollar was trading 0.1% lower at 1.3765 to the greenback, or 72.65 U.S. cents, which was near its weakest level in four months.

($1 = 1.3760 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Ismail Shakil; Additional reporting by Fergal Smith in Toronto and Dale Smith in Ottawa; Editing by Mark Potter and Will Dunham)

By Giulio Piovaccari

MILAN (Reuters) -Italy’s largest automotive groups, led by Fiat-maker Stellantis, and unions on Wednesday signed an agreement for a 6.5% salary increase from this month for workers at their Italian operations to counter the effects of soaring inflation.

Wages will increase by a further 4.5% from January next year. Workers will also receive a one-off sum totalling 600 euros ($632), including benefits, to be paid in three tranches this year, UILM and FIM-CISL unions said in statements, setting out the deal.

The agreement covers almost 70,000 workers at Stellantis, Ferrari, Iveco and CNH Industrial, all of which have their roots in the former Fiat group, and comes from talks that started at the end of October.

The pay increases, aimed at helping workers hit by a Europe-wide spike in consumer price inflation, form the core of a wider deal to renew four-year contracts that expired at the end of 2022 for most Italian employees at the four manufacturers.

Rocco Palombella and Gianluca Ficco of UILM said the agreement met the goals unions had set to “safeguard purchasing power”.

PROTECTING BOTH SIDES

Stellantis, Ferrari, Iveco and CNH Industrial confirmed in separate statements that the overall pay increase for their Italian workers would total over 11% in the first two years covered by the four-year deal signed on Wednesday.

Giuseppe Manca, Stellantis’ HR head for Italy, said that, against a challenging context, the parties “have together found the solutions that will be able to adequately protect the interests of workers and of the company in terms of competitiveness”.

Car workers around the whole are pressing for rises to try to soften the impact of inflation.

Stellantis, whose brands also include Peugeot and Citroen, offered its French workers a 5.3% pay rise in December although unions wanted more. Talks in France are expected to restart in June.

In Japan, Toyota Motor Corp, the world’s biggest automaker, said last month it would accept a union demand for the biggest base salary increase in 20 years and a rise in bonus payments, without disclosing the figures.

Italy’s EU-harmonised inflation averaged 8.7% in 2022, but topped the 10% threshold in the second part of last year. Although it slowed down at the beginning of 2023, it remained close to 10% in February, based on preliminary data.

When talks started last year, the FIM-CISL, UILM, Fismic, UGLM and AQCF unions requested a pay increase of 8.4% for 2023, with a further 4.5% for 2024 and 2.5% for 2025.

Leftist union FIOM was not part of the talks.

($1 = 0.9490 euros)

(Reporting by Giulio PiovaccariEditing by Keith Weir)

By Jan Strupczewski

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Commission said on Wednesday it would back any fiscal tightening goals for 2024 by EU governments as long as plans ensured public debt was at a “prudent” level, providing more flexibility than its prior one-size-fits-all approach.

The guidance of the Commission, the EU’s executive arm, is part of its efforts to coordinate budget tightening policies in the 27-nation bloc, so as not to go against the European Central Bank’s plan to bring down inflation, while at the same time differentiating between countries with high and low debt.

Countries will also need to ensure the budget deficit eventually falls to within EU limits.

The extra leeway for EU governments to set their own targets depending on the level of debt is a departure from previous practice when EU rules determined the minimum size of budgetary tightening necessary every year.

“The 2024 guidance should be seen as a bridge: between how the rules have worked in the past and how they may work in the future,” Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis told a news conference.

Until the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, EU governments all had to follow a common set of fiscal rules to cut debt by 1/20th of the excess over 60% of GDP every year and keep budget deficits below 3% of GDP.

But the rules were suspended during the pandemic and then again in 2022 because of the economic shock caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The large differences in debt levels between countries after the pandemic made a uniform application of debt cutting rules across the bloc unrealistic.

With the old rules set to come back into force in 2024, EU governments are now racing to work out, by the end of the year, new ones that better reflect the challenges of high public debt and the need for large investment linked to fighting climate change.

The Commission proposed in November to negotiate individual debt reduction paths with each country and grant extra time if a government was implementing reforms, or investment that is in line with EU priorities.

Germany and some other northern European countries are sceptical, but the Commission said it would push ahead with this idea when it issues its annual country-specific recommendations on fiscal policy to each EU country in May.

“Our (fiscal tightening) proposals for 2024 will be quantified and differentiated based on each country’s public debt challenges. They will be based on the fiscal targets set out by each Member State, provided that they comply with all requirements,” Dombrovskis said.

Fiscal tightening was necessary, the Commission said, because the pandemic was over and energy prices were falling, making it unnecessary for governments to continue with broad fiscal support measures for companies and households.

With the EU labour market very tight, continued fiscal stimulus would only work to fuel inflation rather than economic growth, Dombrovskis said.

To make sure governments keep in mind the need to consolidate bloated budgets, the Commission warned it would start in 2024 disciplinary steps against those who run a budget shortfall larger than the EU limit of 3% of GDP.

(Reporting by Jan Strupczewski; Editing by Stephen Coates and Sharon Singleton)

By Deborah Mary Sophia

(Reuters) -Campbell Soup Co raised its annual sales forecast after topping Wall Street estimates for quarterly results on Wednesday, as inflation-weary Americans turn to its condensed soups, ready-to-serve meals and snacks to stock their pantries.

The company’s shares rose about 2% in early trading after it also lifted the lower end of its earnings outlook, as higher prices and supply chain improvements offset persistent cost inflation.

Though stretched thin amid increasing prices, Americans are still snacking on Campbell’s cookies and salty snacks while a continued preference for cooking at home has further bolstered demand.

“Consumers continue to seek out our brands as they look for ways to stretch their food budgets and turn to value-driven meals that … are easy to prepare,” Chief Executive Mark Clouse said.

For instance, Campbell’s mac and cheese dish featuring its condensed cheddar cheese soup and its one-pan beef roast and vegetables recipe using its French onion soup – both of which cost under $4 a serving – resonated well with customers.

While U.S. soup sales rose 7% in the second quarter, Campbell is facing growing competition from cheaper private-label counterparts for soups and broth.

“Any time we’re losing share in the category, I’m not happy about that,” Clouse said, but added the company was taking steps to regain the share.

Strong demand for Campbell’s snack brands like Goldfish crackers and Pepperidge Farm cookies drove a 15% jump in the snacks division’s organic sales, helping it lift quarterly net sales 12% to $2.49 billion, above a Refinitiv estimate of $2.44 billion.

While the results lived up to expectations, there was likely “still some conservatism being built into the full year”, Barclays analyst Andrew Lazar said.

New Jersey-based Campbell expects fiscal 2023 net sales to rise between 8.5% and 10%, up from its previous forecast of 7% to 9%.

It also projected annual adjusted earnings of $2.95 to $3.00 per share, compared with a prior target of $2.90 to $3.00.

(Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Milla Nissi)

By Kylie MacLellan, Ben Makori and Hannah McKay

CLITHEROE, England (Reuters) -Last year, mother-of-two Louise Sharples found herself turning down a new job she knew she would love because when she added up the cost of full-time childcare for her young daughters, it was more than she would have earned.

After 12 years as a charity shop manager, Sharples, 35, has now taken what she views as a step back in her career, moving to a part-time but slightly better paid cleaning job until her children are older.

A childcare bill of around 800 pounds ($963) – covering four days a week of nursery for 18-month-old Sunnie and wraparound school clubs for 4-year-old Lola – leaves her with around 100 pounds of her wage at the end of the month.

“I’d love to work more hours,” Sharples told Reuters at the home in northern England she shares with her children and web-developer husband. “There is no incentive to, because it all just goes to childcare.

“I am thinking what am I doing, why am I working?”

She’s not alone. A survey of 24,000 parents published this month by campaign group Pregnant Then Screwed found 76% of mothers who pay for childcare say it no longer makes financial sense for them to work.

The Centre for Progressive Policy (CPP) think tank has estimated that around 1.5 million British mums would work more hours if childcare permitted.

With more than 1.1 million jobs unfilled in Britain, finance minister Jeremy Hunt has been trying to persuade older workers to return from early retirement to ease a tight labour market.

Business groups and researchers argue that acting on childcare in his March 15 budget would do more to unlock greater economic growth.

NOT WORKING

According to children’s charity Coram, the average annual price for full-time nursery childcare in England for a child under two was more than 14,000 pounds in 2022.

That makes Britain’s childcare among the most expensive in the world, according to the OECD, taking up nearly 30% of the income of a couple with two young children.

Only Switzerland and New Zealand rank higher, spending 33% and 35% respectively, while in Sweden the figure is just 5%. The OECD average stands at 12%.

Most childcare for under-5s in England is provided by private companies. The government offers some support, including funding 15 free hours a week for 3- and 4-year-olds, while those on the lowest incomes are reimbursed up to 85% of their costs, although they have to pay upfront.

The government says it has spent more than 20 billion pounds in the last five years helping with the cost of childcare. But providers say the funding does not fully cover the cost of the free hours, leaving many on the brink of financial collapse.

With energy and food bills surging, many have either had to raise fees further or close. Data from education watchdog Ofsted showed the number of childcare providers in England fell by 5,400 in the year to August 2022, an 8% drop.

Lauren Fabianski, head of campaigns and communications at Pregnant Then Screwed, said childcare and early years education should be seen as infrastructure.

“Parents cannot work without good quality, affordable childcare,” she said. “We have to see the government invest in this in order to get more women back into the workplace.”

RETURN ON INVESTMENT

Proposals include lowering the age at which children receive free hours, expanding the number of weeks a year they apply, and boosting funding per hour.

While such reforms would cost billions of pounds a year just as the government is trying to bring down its budget deficit, proponents argue that investment in childcare pays for itself.

The CPP estimates that if the 1.5 million mothers who want to work more were able to, it would result in at least 9.4 billion pounds in additional earnings a year, boosting economic output by more than 27 billion pounds, or around 1% of GDP.

A report in December by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) think tank and charity Save the Children estimated that universally accessible and affordable childcare from six months to the end of primary school at age 11 would provide returns of around 8 billion pounds a year in additional tax contributions and reduced social security spending.

“We also know there are longer-term economic benefits … to not seeing that loss of talent across our labour market,” Rachel Statham, an associate director at the IPPR and one of the report’s authors, told Reuters.

World Bank data shows the labour force participation rate among women in Sweden was around 7 percentage points higher than the UK in 2019.

Other countries have started to act. In 2021, Canada announced a C$30 billion investment over five years to help bring down average daily childcare fees to C$10. It has forecast a boost to real GDP of as much as 1.2 percent over 20 years.

VOTE WINNER?

With a British election expected next year, the opposition Labour Party views childcare as a key battleground.

The government is reported to be considering reforms, but has not announced any plans.

Labour, which leads in opinion polls, has pledged to “transform childcare”, including fully funded breakfast clubs for every primary school in England.

“Childcare unlocks not just the potential of children, but also the potential of parents,” Labour leader Keir Starmer said last month. “Childcare is central to our plans.”

Pregnant Then Screwed found 96% of families with a child under 3 were likely to vote for the political party with the best childcare pledge, and Sharples is among them.

“It is my biggest issue,” she said. “If a particular party was to promise that childcare would be at the forefront of their changes, my ears would prick up.”

($1 = 0.8306 pounds)

(Additional reporting by Gerhard Mey; Writing by Kylie MacLellan; Editing by Catherine Evans)