‘Underpaid, undervalued’: March of the Mummies protests take place across UK

Thousands join demonstration against a childcare structure they say is setting families up for failure

Thousands gathered in Trafalgar Square on Saturday for the March of the Mummies protest against a childcare structure that many say is setting parents, children and society up for failure.

Among them, swathed in gauze and pushing his two-year-old's stroller, were Laurence Parkes and his family, who described raising two children in London as expensive: a monthly cost including nursery and after-school care that nears the family's mortgage payments.