The Mumsnet election - parties use parenting website as battlefield

Forget airbrushed billboards – signs that this will be the "Mumsnet election" have arrived as the major parties go to war on the parenting website. Labour fired the first salvo with an advert on the main forum page, which attacked the Tories over child tax credit. "Are you earning more than £31,000?" it said. "Say hello to David. And goodbye to your child tax credits. Vote Tory and you'll get less than you bargained for." Labour claims a new report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies shows a Tory pledge to save £400m through scrapping tax credits to families with incomes above £50,000 is unachievable without affecting families on more than £31,000. The Tories are poised to launch a riposte on the site in a video featuring Theresa May, the shadow minister for women. Kerry McCarthy, Labour's media campaigns spokeswoman, said Mumsnet users were "political animals, in that they are very interested in issues that affect their families and lives, but wouldn't necessarily watch Newsnight every night … We really have to look beyond the billboards, the party political broadcasts, the newspapers and mainstream channels." Justine Roberts, co-founder of Mumsnet, said the site's managers had thought "long and hard" about allowing the adverts. "We are happy for our members to see the messages being put out. They are very engaged in the election. They are not dim enough to accept everything at face value, either."