Jamie Oliver has called for the threshold to be opened for who qualifies as having a free school meal. Currently, the children of parents who are on Universal Credit and have an annual income of no more than £7,400, or are on another benefit such as jobseeker's allowance, are eligible for free school meals.
Mr Oliver told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "If you earn over £7,400, you won't get that free school lunch. But I think we'd all agree that there's a massive gap between the means test for free school lunches as it stands and Universal Credit. I think what the Government are saying is Universal Credit tethers off and can go up to sort of £30,000 - £40,000, but really we're talking about the bulk of them being around £14,000 per household."
Asked if he wanted the threshold to be met, he replied: "Well, now more than ever... if they were to open the threshold of who would be allowed to have a free school lunch, that would also inject funds into the system that would also really help to guarantee a much better service across 26,000 schools in the country."
In Wales, the devolved government announced earlier this year that all primary school children in Wales will get free school meals by 2024.
Mr Oliver also said former prime minister Boris Johnson had to "nearly die and have a child" before he saw his point of view over school lunches. Asked about getting Mr Johnson "on side" after "having warred with him" over free school meals, the celebrity cook and restaurateur told Today: "He had to nearly die though and have a child to put him in the frame of mind to do the right thing."
He also denied he was part of the "anti-growth coalition". The celebrity cook and restaurateur was asked on BBC Radio 4 if he was part of the movement coined by Prime Minister Liz Truss.
He replied: "Completely not. I've spent a lifetime not only employing over 20,000 people but travelling around the world saying how brilliant Britain is. That's what we need to do as a country. We have an incredible country but just doing quick trade deals to the lowest common denominator and threatening British farming and British producers is completely bonkers."
He added: "The reality is, if you speak to the best minds in economics, in the country, in the world, they will tell you that if you output healthier kids, you're going to have a more productive, more profitable country, better GDP. To do that, you have to think in 10 to 20 years, not three-year cycles."
