If Theresa May pushes through with her cuts in the Conservative manifesto, nearly one million children from poorer backgrounds and those struggling families will lose the right to a free midday meal. Instead, it will be replaced by a free school breakfast for every child up to the age of 7 which is cheaper at 10^th of the price costing around £60 million a year.

This includes more than 600,000 children who are defined as coming from ‘ordinary working families,’ the kind which Ms May has said she wants to support. Those from the poorest background will continue to be entitled to a free lunch meal. It is expected the move will cost families around £440 a year per child and it's thought to save around £650 million a year based on the current uptake. Universal free lunches for infants were introduced under the coalition government by Liberal Democrat education minister David Laws.  

However, experts have argued this could cost a lot more than the £60 million predicted, in fact, it could be more closer to £180 million and £400 million, depending on how many pupils take up the offer. Also, staffing costs haven’t been taken into account which could make this substantially higher. The party’s former deputy prime minister Nick Clegg said: “This just confirms the sleight of hand from the Conservatives – scrapping universal infant school lunches hits some of the most hard-pressed families the hardest. The offer of free breakfasts won't reach the children who don’t come to breakfast clubs.” “All Theresa May’s talk of helping the ‘just about managing’ will ring hollow as long as this regressive decision remains in place.”

On hearing the announcement Sarah Olney, Liberal Democrat Education spokesperson, said: "Margaret Thatcher was known as the 'milk snatcher,' Theresa May will go down as the lunch snatcher."[/caption]   But a Conservative spokesman said: “We don’t think it is right to spend precious resources on subsidising school meals for better-off parents. So instead we will give that money to headteachers, to spend on pupils’ education instead. “We will make sure all those who need it most still get free lunches – and will offer a free school breakfast to every child in every year of primary school. So the most disadvantaged children will now get two free school meals a day rather than one.”  

Celebrity chef and ongoing campaigner Jamie Oliver has called it a “disgrace.” Famously known for improving the quality of school meals, said the move "puts our future generations at huge risk" by ignoring the proven benefits of "a decent lunch." "We've already seen the Childhood Obesity Strategy ripped to shreds, now Theresa May and her government have decided to remove free school lunches from millions of primary children," said Oliver. "This is a disgrace. It's a fact that children perform better after eating a decent lunch. "This move shows a complete lack of understanding of all the data that's been shared and puts our future generations at huge risk, as well as further undermining our teachers who benefit from well-fed kids."

 Jamie Oliver campaigned tirelessly for primary schools to offer a free hot meal to every pupil.[/caption] Speaking to Channel 4 News, Oliver said the “short-sighted” move would prove a mistake in the long run because it would harm children’s health and end up costing the country. “It’s awful, it’s awful. [Theresa May] will regret it. We know the diseases that the NHS are overtly paying for now and being punished for and crucified now on cost, which is largely obesity, type 2 diabetes and diet-related diseases.” “This tracks from childhood. It doesn’t just happen [during adulthood], it tracks from childhood. As far as I see it … the school is at the front line of the fight against obesity and diet-related disease.” Oliver, 41, began campaigning for healthier food for British schoolchildren in 2005, leading to the removal of fast-food options such as the infamous 'turkey twizzler' from school canteens and a move towards fresh food cooked from scratch   General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers Kevin Courtney called scrapping free school lunches for infants "mean-spirited and wrong-headed." The policy did not make sense, or represent value for money, given the investment many schools had already made in kitchens and staffing, he said. “It is a long time for a child to go without food from the morning until 15:30, which will be the case for many families in work but struggling.” Valentine Mulholland, head of policy for the National Association of Head Teachers, said many of the group's members had reported "significant improvement in concentration and engagement" from pupils since the scheme's introduction.  

How the parties manifestos compare on Education

Conservatives

• Increase overall schools budget by £4bn by 2022 and redirect £1bn of national funding formula to help schools
• Build at least 100 new free schools a year, end ban on selective schools and ask universities and independent schools to help run state schools
• No new places in schools rated ‘inadequate’ or ‘requires improvement’ by Ofsted
• Free breakfast to every child in every year of primary school in place of free school lunches for first three years
• The return of grammar schools is a key part of May’s new “meritocracy”, and end of free lunches scraps a key Lib Dem achievement

The return of grammar schools is a key part of May’s new “meritocracy”, and end of free lunches scraps a key Lib Dem achievement.

Labour

• Create a unified national education service for England that is free at the point of use
• Abolish university tuition fees, reintroduce maintenance grants, and restore the education maintenance allowance for 16-18 year olds from lower and middle income backgrounds
• Free school meals for all schoolchildren

Labour hopes pledge to scrap tuition fees will attract students and 18- to 24-year-olds who still strongly support the party.

Liberal Democrats

• Invest nearly £7bn extra in education, increasing school budgets and the pupil premium
• Triple early years pupil premium to £1,000 and repeal rule that all new state-funded schools must be free schools or academies, giving local authorities democratic control
• Reinstate maintenance grants for poorest university students

Like Labour, the Liberal Democrats oppose May’s plans for grammar schools. The party doesn’t return to its disastrous pledge to scrap tuition fees, hoping to attract young voters through a second EU referendum and cannabis legalisation. Source: www.theguardian.com