Since Sizewell B came on stream in February Nuclear Electric and Scottish Nuclear have had 29 per cent of the UK electricity market between

Since Sizewell B came on stream in February, Nuclear Electric and Scottish Nuclear have had 29 per cent of the UK electricity market between them, more than ever before. THE NUCLEAR power industry, whose privatisation was confirmed last week, looks healthier than ever. There is fertile ground here for politicians who wish to tackle an issue that goes to the heart of many people's lives.. It called for child- care assistance to be made available to low-income parents who find jobs.Neither set of proposals really comes close to tackling the scale of the problem. While it is clear that the clock cannot be turned back - the essential logic of Ms Morgan's position - there is some truth in her view that women have entered the workforce on employers' terms.What is needed now is a programme of action that makes the term "flexible workforce" less of a sham as far as standard of living is concerned. There must be a restoration, she argues, of tax allowances that can sustain the family on one income.From the left, the Social Justice Commission - set up by the late Labour leader John Smith - fretted about the growing inequality between households that has emerged from the new patterns of employment.

The reduction this tax year to 15 per cent in the tax relief from the married couple's allowance - frozen at £1,720 since 1990 - is simply the latest blow. Leading the charge from the right is Patricia Morgan, at the Institute of Economic Affairs. She argues that families are reaping the bitter fruits of a misconceived feminism, and that the advent of women into the workforce on so large a scale has destroyed "the family wage".She says the Government has added insult to injury with changes in taxation that have tilted the balance away from one-earner families to individuals without children. According to research by Stephen Machin and Jane Waldfogel at the London School of Economics, the decline of the male breadwinner is "the most important factor driving the increased inequality of family incomes between the late 1970s and early 1990s".This has prompted remonstrations from both sides of the political spectrum.

Women with partners in work do not face the loss of benefits incurred by members of households on income support. The only silver lining has been an increase in the number of the self- employed, but for many that has meant swapping regular for insecure earnings.The overall effect has been to widen family inequality, particularly between "work-rich" two-earner and "work-poor" no-earner households, caught in the benefits trap. Career women face excruciating dilemmas in reconciling children with the demands of full-time work. Those who cannot afford child care lose out as they move into ill-paid, part- time work. Heather Joshi, an economist, has estimated that a British mother with two children loses over half her potential lifetime earnings compared with a woman who stays childless.But if women's victory is more apparent than real, men's defeat is as real as it is apparent - certainly for those who have quit the battlefield.