Lib Dems call for free school meals to be given to all children in poverty 

EMBARGO: 22.30 Saturday 14th September

• Lib Dem Education Spokesperson Munira Wilson calls for extension of free school meals and national body for SEND

• Munira Wilson to call for more mental health support for children during keynote speech to party conference 

Today (Sunday 15th September), Liberal Democrat Education Spokesperson Munira Wilson MP will deliver her keynote speech to the party’s conference, calling for an expansion of free school meals to all children in poverty. 

She will say that implementing the policy would give an additional 900,000 pupils a free school lunch, which for many will be their only meal of the day, leading to “better academic progress, better behaviour and concentration, better health outcomes.”

Munira Wilson MP will also be calling for a national body for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), which would take responsibility for supporting children with the most complex needs. This new body would pay any costs above a certain threshold, helping to end the current postcode lottery that is leaving parents in many areas struggling to access the support for their child they need. 

On child poverty, Munira Wilson MP is expected to say: 

“Take child poverty. There’s a constituent of mine who told me that she stopped buying her medication so that her daughter at college could afford some lunch. I’ve heard stories of pupils pretending to eat out of empty lunchboxes to hide from their friends that there was no food at home. That cannot be right in modern Britain.

“A free school meal for every child in poverty would give 900,000 more pupils a full stomach each lunchtime. That means better academic progress, better behaviour and concentration, better health outcomes. But Labour have stayed silent.”

On SEND, the MP is expected to say: 

“And where do I start with special educational needs? A system where tens of thousands of parents must fight the council in the courts to get the support that is their child’s legal right.

“When parents win almost 98 times out of 100, you know the system is broken.

“A system where the only reason why dozens of councils aren’t bankrupt is because they can keep SEND support off the balance sheet.

“Liberal Democrats have plenty of positive proposals to bring to the table. Ideas such as a new national funding body so that the most severely disabled children can have their support paid for centrally, freeing up councils to help others in need.

“In the early years, SEND and more, we will be a constructive opposition to Labour.” 

ENDS

Notes to Editors: 

Data on Free School Meals can be found here.