ON THE RECENT FREE SCHOOL MEALS VOTE

The recent vote was not to remove food entitlement from the most disadvantaged. Still less was it “taking free school meals from a million people.” The vote, instead, removed entitlement from the better off, in order to focus free lunches on those children whose parents cannot afford them. As a result, by 2022, 50,000 more children will be eligible for free school meals than under the previous system. I would also like to reassure those concerned by misleading reports that no child will lose their meals during the rollout of Universal Credit as a result of these changes.