I feel like you don't understand a few things, and likely you don't have children, or you have a very good support network where you don't have to rely on nurseries.
It's £14k a year to put our child in a nursery, and ours is pretty cheap at £55 a day. That's £1150 a month. My mrs earns £10k a year doing part time. Do the maths! It's literally not worth her working. Back to nurseries, you can't pick and choose your dates, you have to commit sometimes over 6 months in advance to get a placement as they are so scarce. And you still have to pay for bloody bank holidays, if the child is sick, if the nursery has to close or doesn't have staff etc. Working parents need all the help they can get when you compare how expensive it is in the UK compared to the rest of Europe and even World.