Liverpool schoolchildren deliver free school meal petition to PM
The petition is asking for free school meals for all schools
More than 100 schoolchildren from eight Liverpool schools are outside the Labour Party Conference to demand free school meals for all primary school children in England.
It's part of the National Education Union's Free School Meals For All campaign, with the union joined by Labour MPs including Kim Johnson and Dr Simon Opher, as well as representatives from the British Dietetics Association and Citizens UK Liverpool Chapter.
They will be leafleting Labour officials outside the conference, and hand in a 22,000 strong petition calling for the Prime Minister to follow the example of London and Wales, where all primary school children are eligible for free school meals.
Sir Keir Starmer announced in the summer that the free school meal scheme would be expanded to include all children growing up in families in receipt of universal credit, but the call is to go further.
The NEU says there are nearly 38,000 children growing up in poverty in Liverpool - 6% more than the national average.
Daniel Kebede, General Secretary at National Education Union, said:
"School food is a vitally important aspect of the school day - we all know that children can’t learn if they’re hungry.
"The government have acknowledged this – next year’s expansion of the Free School Meal scheme to include all children growing up in families in receipt of Universal Credit is a brilliant step forward.
"Why should a postcode put barriers up around the children of Liverpool?"
"But any means-tested system always means that children miss out. And missing out on the hot, healthy lunch they need will have devastating consequences for thousands of children across the country.
"In Wales and London, every child in primary school is entitled to the Free School Meal they deserve – why should a postcode put barriers up around the children of Liverpool, Lincolnshire or any other part of England?
"Right now, there are more foodbanks established in schools than there are outside of them. Our school communities are doing all they can but the crisis of in-school hunger requires government to go beyond this first step and finish the job, for all of our children’s sakes. We’re asking this parliament to commit to ending child hunger in our schools so every child can learn and thrive."