The Lib Dems have thrown their weight behind the Mirror’s campaign to give all primary school children free school meals.
The party’s education spokeswoman said the move would be “crucial” for youngsters. Munira Wilson also spoke of her “disappointment” at Labour leader Keir Starmer’s rejection of the plan.
Mrs Wilson said her party has a “proud history on free school meals” and stressed that during the 2010-15 coalition government, it “fought very, very hard to make sure that every infant child gets a free school meal”. She added: “We would love to go further and roll it out to all primary children.”
The party would initially ensure all kids, including secondary pupils, from families on Universal Credit received free school meals before expanding the policy to all primary school pupils, regardless of their parents’ income. “Given the cost-of-living crisis, the pressure on family budgets and the fact that more and more children are turning up to school hungry and therefore not ready to learn, I think we should certainly be looking at rolling out meals to all primary children,” she said.
“It’s crucial both in terms of saving families money during the cost-of-living crisis, improving educational outcomes and also improving health outcomes. We know that children end up getting a healthier meal if they get a hot meal at lunchtime at school, as opposed to a packed lunch.”
The Mirror and the National Education Union are campaigning to extend the benefit to all primary school children, regardless of background. All children in England can get free school meals up to the end of Year 2 but after that it only applies to households on certain benefits.
Pupils living in Universal Credit families are eligible if their parents earn less than £7,400-a-year from work. Mrs Wilson is the MP for Twickenham, South West London, where incomes are above average and poverty levels lower.
But she said: “Even in my constituency I have heard some harrowing stories. A mum that was in my surgery who had fled an abusive partner had to forgo her mental health medication to be able to pay for lunch for her daughter who was at college.
"These are the sort of heartbreaking choices that parents with children of every age are having to make, and that can’t be right in this day and age. We want children and young people happy, healthy and ready to learn - and that’s what a hot, healthy meal at lunchtime can provide.”
Senior Labour figures want Mr Starmer to commit to the policy in the next election manifesto. But he continues to resist calls, saying last week: “We are constrained by the economics and we are constrained also by this question of whether that is the best targeting of the resources that we've got.
"We've gone down the route of breakfast clubs, but other councils and Wales have gone down a different route. It's a debate we should welcome as an ongoing debate about what's the best way here to move forward." Mrs Wilson told the Mirror: “I’m very disappointed the Labour Party don’t support expanding free school meals.
“To my mind it is a common sense intervention both to tackle poverty, to improve children’s performance at schools and to improve children’s behavior at school, because then they have the energy to learn and to focus. It seems like a no-brainer to me and I can’t begin to understand why Labour won’t get behind it.”
If Mr Starmer falls short of an overall majority at the next election, the policy could become a key plank of any deal to win Lib Dem support for a minority Labour Government.
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