We can’t stomach what Tories are doing.. I’ll serve up free meals to every schoolkid
Deputy FM’s conference election pledge
The SNP will give free breakfasts and lunches to all primary schoolchildren in Scotland all year round if re-elected next May, Education S e c r e t a r y John Swinney has pledged.
He made the commitment as he warned Scotland was facing a “tsunami of child poverty” if Chancellor Rishi Sunak imposes a “second wave of austerity”.
Swinney said the policy would be implemented from August 2022, making Scotland the first nation in the UK to offer universal free primary school meals.
He said: “Just as we extended f ree meals through the holidays this year and next, if re- elected we wi l l extend free school meals through every school holidays.”
The comm i t me n t came as he told the SNP conference how the Westminster Government h a d “i g nor ed ” Scotland dur ing the Covid crisis, rejecting pleas from Scottish ministers for the furlough scheme to be extended, with this only happening “when the economic problems of Covid hit the south of England”.
Swinney, who is also Deputy First Minister, said the pandemic had “shown us just how little financial security some families have”.
He spoke about the plight of “families not entitled to many benefits, families in work”, saying that “they are already hard- pressed and Tor y austerity will hit them harder”.
While he said the Scottish Government had acted – citing the introduction of next year’s £ 10- a- week Scottish Child Payment to poorer families – he added more must be done.
Speaking about the free meal plan, Swinney said: “That is the next step in our battle to stop the Tories forcing more and more kids into poverty.”
While kids already receive free school meals in P1 through to P3, he said: “We will not leave a child at the mercy of a Tory Chancellor just because they are in P4, P5, P6 or P7.
“If elected next May, from 2022 we will extend universal
free school lunches to al l primary school pupils, P1 to P7. We want every child to have every chance to learn every minute of every school day, starting from the moment they arrive in class. A child arriving at school hungry cannot learn as well as they should. So, we will also extend free provision of a healthy breakfast to all primary school pupils as well.
“Breakfast and lunch for every pupil every school day.
“But another lesson of 2020 is term-time isn’t enough. Hunger doesn’t take a holiday so neither can we.”
The promise comes as footballer Marcus Rashford continues to lobby the UK Government over free meals.
Swinney went on to tell SNP supporters the coronavirus pandemic had brought about a “seismic shift in the psyche of Scotland”.
He praised Nicola Sturgeon, for having “bared her soul almost every day... as she shared the agonising decisions Government has had to make”.
He added: “We have always said that the solution to Scotland’s problems do not lie in London. Never was that more obvious than in 2020.
“In the moment of crisis, our nation’s eyes did not turn to Westminster. It was not the Prime Minister who people l ooked to, it wa s the government here in Scotland and our First Minister.”