Tony Blair’s promise to the Labour Conference in 1996 that his three priorities for government if he became prime minister would be “education, education, education” is one of his best known.

Back then I worked for an organisation campaigning for better childcare and early years support. The sense that education and children’s life chances would be a leading election issue and at the top of a new government’s agenda was exciting and invigorating.

Significant boosts to children’s lives followed - a reduction in child poverty, an expansion of support for families and young people, and improvements in many state schools.

Sadly, some of that progress has since been squandered, though the present government does have a positive story to tell about raising standards in schools, particularly in reading and maths.

However, as Sam Freedman wrote persuasively in Tes last week, there is no expectation that education and children will be at the centre of the battle for No 10 this time round. If that is the case, the main parties will be missing a trick.

It’s education, stupid

An election with “the economy, stupid” as the big issue surely can’t ignore the elephant in the room - how our economic success is being held back by a lack of drive and ambition across government to improve the life chances of millions of children and young people.

An economy where one in five children leaves school without basic qualifications, where too many children feel school is not for them, where we struggle to recruit and retain teachers, and where millions of children are growing up in poverty is an economy more likely to stay stuck in the doldrums.

Blair’s Blackpool speech also included a less well-remembered line: “Give me the education system that is 35th in the world today and I will give you the economy that is 35th in the world tomorrow.”

Since then, governments of both parties can claim credit for lifting Britain up the education rankings. Yet the point remains the same: a strong economy needs strong communities, strong families and children who are supported to succeed regardless of their background.

Opportunity for all

Current Labour leader Keir Starmer’s “Five Missions” have yet to capture voters’ attention, but his fifth pledge to “break down the barriers to opportunity” is important because it recognises that better childcare, education and family support are crucial to boosting life chances and our economic future.

The Conservatives need to develop a similar proposition, particularly since “levelling up” has fallen out of favour, along with - thankfully - a grammar school for every town. Prime minister Rishi Sunak’s A-level reforms alone won’t meet the scale of the challenges facing millions of our children, particularly post-Covid.

Blair tuned into the national mood by putting education and young people’s futures at the heart of his offer. Run-down and under-resourced schools, high youth unemployment and child poverty were all barriers to creating a modern economy. He was rewarded with a landslide election victory.

Time for history to repeat itself

The parents of 2024 have the same ambitions for their children as the parents of 1997: good, well-funded local schools where their children can thrive, extra support if it’s needed, and for their children to be safe, healthy and happy.

These are universal hopes and expectations. A brighter future for our children is one way we judge our own success as parents, but also our politicians.

A quarter of a century on, our country and our children face some of the same problems as in 1996, with a few new ones too. That is why the next election campaign should be about their futures.

Our political leaders still have time to seize the moment and commit to leading a child-first government that puts young people at the heart of its mission to build a better, fairer and more prosperous Britain.

Those who don’t risk losing the trust of millions of voters.

Anne Longfield is chair of the Commission on Young Lives and former children’s commissioner for England