Labour council ‘cannot afford’ free primary school meals

PLANS to offer free meals to every primary school child in Birmingham have been quietly dropped by council bosses because it is unaffordable.

Former Labour council leader John Clancy made universal free school meals a flagship policy when he was elected in 2015 and tried to set up a trust to raise sponsorship from major companies and employers for the scheme.

It was heralded as a move which would improve the health of chil- dren by tackling obesity, raise school attainment levels and reduce the impacts of child poverty.

The free meals were also a recommendation of the independent Birmingham Child Poverty Commission in 2016. The government currently funds free school meals for infant school children, but the council wanted to increase that to all pupils up to the age of 11.

Cllr Clancy set up a trust and approached major businesses and employers, such as supermarkets, to see if they would sponsor the policy. But two years on, with Cllr Clancy last year resigning as leader, the School Food Trust has been abandoned.

Yet Labour bosses on the city council insist free schools meals remains an ‘‘aspiration’’ and that they continue to lobby the government to fund them.

Opposition Conservative education spokesman Cllr Matt Bennett (Edgbaston) said: “Yet another Labour promise has been broken. The financial situation was challenging when the promise was made and remains so now.

“All that has changed is that we have had two further years of Labour mismanagement.”

He said the Labour leadership could not blame government cuts as they always insisted the money would come from the trust.

“I’m afraid the people of Birmingham have been let down once again by Labour,” Cllr Bennett added. “Promises of free meals were nothing more than hot air. Birmingham deserves better.”

Council equalities chief Tristan Chatfield said the council cannot afford it. He said it had proved ‘‘difficult’’ to establish a trust and funding.

He added: “This ambition has not been dropped, but government cuts to our budget of almost £650 million since 2010 means that it is not currently possible to offer universal free school meals.”