Conservative London Mayoral candidate, Susan Hall, pledges to scrap universal primary school free meals

by KillerArse

29 comments

  2. Part of the response from Sadiq Khan from the night

    >The logical extension of what you’ve heard is wealthier people shouldn’t have free healthcare at the point of delivery. The logical conclusion of what you’ve heard is the Freedom Pass will go if Susan Hall is elected mayor, and (let me)(it will)? be quite clear, universalism is a really important principle, and let me tell you why. I’m the beneficiary of a means tested free school meals. I know how much it alleviated the stress and anxiety of my parents knowing we’d all eat a decent free school meal. But I still remember the shame and the stigma being in a separate queue collecting my free school meals token.

    >I remember the meals I ate. I remember the shame being in a separate queue. So I am very proud that for the first time in the history of our great city every child that goes to a primary state school receives a nutritious free school meal to eat with their friends.

  10. Can’t believe this is who they put up against Khan. What were they thinking.

  11. The tories found someone thicker and worse at politics than Rishi gg

  12. As someone who actually listened to what she said, I don’t see what the issue is here. She’s quite right to say that people earning a low wage shouldn’t be paying towards the free school meals of children from well-off families. If free school meals are universal, then people working the night shift at Tesco will be paying to feed kids going to school at Harrow. Meanwhile she also says that we should be making sure that kids from less well off families should have access to free meals, which is right, and that they should be of a better standard than they currently are.

    Like Khan, I was on free school meals as a kid. I had to spend most of my break time queuing up for a literal meal ticket, and my lunchbreak sitting with the rest of the poor kids eating a state provided packed lunch because presumably we were too poor to deserve hot food. It was a horrible experience, and I pretty soon figured out that I would rather be hungry but get to play footy with my mates.

    But that was in the 80’s and 90’s, when schools had a printed list of kids’ names. There’s absolutely no reason why this couldn’t or shouldn’t be digitised today. Give kids an Oyster-like card, which their parents can top up or automatically tops up if they’re on FSM. That way the kids have the same card, and they’re all in the same queue for the same food.

  15. Great that’s Marcus Rashford done for next season while he hits the campaign trail!

  16. This is a good example of simplistic headlines to say Tories are bad etc. When not providing free school meals for primary school kids is the majority of Labour Councils policy position. It is only through time-bound mayoral funding that this happens. Yet you won’t see people slate Labour for not implementing it a) sooner within their councils, and b) putting in place long-term funding commitments for it.

  18. Are any of them pushing for making a proper london living wage law? Minimum wage isn’t enough.

  19. So, let’s extrapolate this idea to the NHS…should all hard-working people pay for their GP’s and Hospital appointments because we can “afford” it? Because, God forbid someone wealthy might use those services too. Oh the horror!

    This argument is so disingenuous as to be insulting. How many “millionaires” are even out there getting free school meals? If you’re a child of millionaires then you’re likely not even going to these kinds of schools anyway…or you go with your own food. And even IF they were having free school meals…the amount of these kids is so small as to be negligible.

    This woman is a complete and utter, simplified moron.

  20. Sorry for my ignorance but, is this related to kids who have economic difficulties or every kid, no matter how well off their families are?

  21. I don’t have kids and I pay taxes, in London. At the most cynical pragmatic level the reason I agree with the school meals because when one in 3 kids are poor I run the risk of someone not stealing my phone but stabbing me for it. And yes if in order to ensure that this is done properly, I will pay the lunches of the children of millionaires, I don’t want school lunches to be something associated with those so poor that they can’t get a sandwich.

  22. God, she really is trying to become a caricature of a stereotypical Tory isn’t she.

  23. Not a fan of Khan but I can’t not vote for him after hearing this shit.

    If it’s a choice between staying at home or kids potentially going starving I don’t have much of choice.

  25. From a feminist perspective, school lunches are important because they reduce labor in the home. Also, just because someone is wealthy doesn’t mean they love and care for their children, or that they have the time to construct a nutritionally sound lunch box each day. School lunch means that every child gets the same, and that’s fair. It also means there is another place farmers can sell their food besides grocery stores. School lunches are a net win. If people are sending their children with packed lunch, perhaps more money needs to be spent.

  26. Surprised that school meals are the political topic. Personally, I haven’t any free meals in school at all. TBH, didn’t like to have a lunch in school at all and preferred to skip it.

  27. I know she had no chance anyway, but they do realise that the point of elections is to at least _try_ to win, right?

  28. This might be a vote winner amongst Boomers, who generally dislike children.

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