It is hard to learn on an empty stomach. That is why we welcome the move by Mayor Sadiq Khan to extend free school meals to all primary school children to support struggling families through the cost-of-living crisis.
The decision will fund the 270,000 state primary school children in the capital who do not yet receive free school meals, of whom an estimated 100,000 live in poverty. This represents a victory for the Evening Standard’s School Hunger Special Investigation, in which we called attention to the more than 200,000 pupils in the capital living in households on universal credit but missing out on meals because their household income exceeds £7,400 a year.
