She also criticised Labour's refusal to scrap the two-child benefit cap
The Liberal Democrats’ education spokesperson Munira Wilson used her keynote speech at the party’s autumn conference to call for an additional 900,000 pupils to be given free school meals. According to the Lib Dems, this would expand the free school meals scheme to all children in poverty.
Wilson told the conference: “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’s 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 progress, better behaviour and concentration, better health outcomes. But Labour have stayed silent.”
Elsewhere, Wilson was critical of Labour’s refusal to scrap the two-child benefit cap. She told the conference: “Scrapping the two-child benefit [cap] would lift 300,000 children out of poverty. It’s impact would immediate and cost-effective. But Keir Starmer said no and he suspended any Labour MP who defied him.”
Later in her speech, Wilson called for the introduction of a national body for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The Liberal Democrats say this body would take responsibility for supporting children with the most complex needs and would pay any costs above a certain threshold.
Wilson told the conference: “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.”
Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward
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