Primary pupils are crying at school because they are so hungry or stealing from breakfast clubs as they have no food at home, MPs have been told.
Labour MP Zarah Sultana read out heart-breaking accounts of hunger in England's schools as she mounted a Commons bid to extend the free school meals scheme to all primary school pupils.
One teacher in Leeds told her that a 7-year-old burst into tears in front of him out of fear they wouldn't have anything to eat that day, while a Year 3 pupil was caught stealing bagels from their breakfast club to eat later.
Some kids come to school with a packed lunch containing little more than a few biscuits and a couple of slices of bread, Ms Sultana told MPs.
"My inbox is flooded with heart-breaking accounts like these and of course they are just a tiny example of the pain and anguish experienced when children are denied a decent meal," she said.
Around 800,000 children living in poverty miss out on free school meals due to strict eligibility rules - and the picture is expected to have worsened as the cost of living crisis bites.
The Mirror and the NEU are campaigning to widen the scheme to boost the life chances of needy kids.
"Soaring food prices and rocketing energy bills have pushed people to the brink, children are going to bed hungry at home and they are forced to learn on hungry stomachs at school," Ms Sultana said.
The Coventry South MP said her bill would right this injustice, adding: "It's a solution to children crying because they haven't had a decent meal all day and an answer to kids feeling like they have to steal food just to get by."
Under the current system, all kids in England can get free school meals until the end of Year 2, and then only if their households receive certain benefits.
Means testing "separates children, putting labels on them and provoking stigma", she said.
She went on: "Free school meals for all means that all children eat together and learn together and it avoids the trap of second rate provision for the poorest, because too often service just for the poor end up being poor services."
Teachers, doctors, campaigners and politicians have been calling for the scheme to be widened to prevent needy kids from slipping through the cracks.
Ms Sultana branded the threshold "horrifyingly low" and warned that the application process was a barrier for marginalised communities.
She argued that Labour's call to axe tax breaks for private schools would raise £1.7 billion - more than double the cost of the policy.
The MP said: "Do we want to protect tax breaks for elite private schools or do we want to feed hungry kids? This Conservative Government is making a choice."
Her bill has been backed by London Mayor Sadiq Khan and the National Education Union (NEU) and cross-party MPs.
Dr Mary Bousted, Joint General Secretary for the NEU, said: "Children can’t learn when they’re hungry, and in 2022 no child should be in school without having enough to eat.
"Providing Free School Meals for all children in primary schools would ensure that all families are lifted up – out of poverty, out of the stigma surrounding means testing, and into classrooms where all pupils feel valued and able to reach their full potential.”
It passed its first Commons hurdle yesterday(TUES) and will return for further scrutiny in January.
While backbench bills are unlikely to become law without Government support, the move will pile pressure on both the Tories and the Labour frontbench to act.
The devolved government in Wales and Scotland have already pledged to offer free school meals to all primary pupils.
