Remember how Mrs Thatcher put an end to free school milk in the 1970s? Our parents really should have known then, shouldn’t they? Anyway, the Tories appear to be getting ready to ditch the free school meals introduced by the Liberal Democrats two years ago.
Tim Farron has written for the Huffington Post making it clear why he thinks that free school meals are important:
Children from all backgrounds, rich and poor sitting down for lunch together, ending any stigma of young pupils having to admit they receive free school meals is a good thing. I will not sit by while the Conservatives equivocate on this. My party is utterly opposed to it’s removal.
The Tories are taking an axe to the education budget at the expense of children’s learning.
Not satisfied with snatching milk in the 1970s, they now seem set to steal the lunches of children.
The Liberal Democrats fought tooth and nail to deliver this in Coalition because we want every child to have the best possible start in life and be able to concentrate in class. All the evidence shows that a healthy meal helps with that. Instead of further investing in our children, the Tories are turning up at the school gate and stealing their lunch money.
My message to the Prime Minister is this – give us a guarantee that it is safe, not unsourced quotes. You say you are proud of this Lib Dem policy – I am too. But until you say it is safe, we will keep working, fighting and campaigning for this policy.
You can read his whole article here.
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7 Comments
This sort of stuff should be for someone less senior than Tim. We’ve got Labour plotting socialism, proxi-wars galore in the middle east with Britain in the thick of it and Tim is talking about free school meals.
We need a liberal voice on foreign affairs and the major functions of government.
Regards
To be fair Eddie I don’t think an issue like this is more or less important than anything else. I want a leader who discusses and campaigns on issues ranging from the humanitarian crisis facing new Syrian refugees to issues facing every household in Britain. If school meals were the be-all-and-end-all of the Lib Dems then I would see your point, but they are not. This issue touches millions of households who are increasingly finding it harder to make ends meet and we need to support them.
Thanks Alex. I agree the issue itself is not bad, but the timing. We’ve had the UN General Assembly this week and Corbyn’s conference speech so I don’t think the immediate response should be free school meals.
Best regards
Wouldn’t have mentioned the milk business……… Old issue long gone……. And as one who suffered free school milk it was pretty disgusting full fat pasteurised milk with a horrible aroma. Most of it went down the sink behind the teacher’s back.- and modern dietician would question how healthy it was.
Thatcher wrong on a host of things….. Including austerity which we now seem to have got hooked on courtesy of the orangists who are all too young to remember Thatch….. But getting rid of school milk was one of the things she got right.
“The Liberal Democrats fought tooth and nail to deliver this in Coalition because we want every child to have the best possible start in life and be able to concentrate in class.”
Really?
My recollection is that Nick Clegg surprised everybody when he announced this. It appeared to be quid pro quo for accepting the Conservatives’ married person’s tax allowance. It was something that Lib Dems had opposed at various levels when Ed Balls, as Labour’s Education secretary, commissioned trials.
Given that David Cameron publicly recommitted to free school meals on Monday and it seems it is also a personal commitment, I find myself wondering just whom Tim is taking shots at and who he is actually supporting. Personally, I would be more supportive of David Cameron and portray Conservative MP’s (and officials at the Dept of Education) as being out of step.
Universal free school meals has pulled a lot of money out of schools, as parents no longer have (had) to apply for them. Schools got extra money for every child eligible for FSM and the reduction in applications drained their budgets.
Not to mention the fact that schools also had to scrounge up money from already tight budgets to refit kitchens to supply them. It was a poorly thought out policy sprung by Clegg at the conference to try and make up for the removal of funding streams set up by Labour.