Children to ‘go hungry’ after free school meals cuts
Tories face backlash for exempting Northern Ireland from reforms which could affect one million children

The Government is facing a backlash from parents after controversial changes to benefits which could cause as many as one million children lose their free school meals.
Under the new legalisation, English families on universal credit will have their income threshold for free school meals slashed to £7,400 a year.
The cuts mean around 212,000 children in London stand to go hungry, 130,000 in the West Midlands and another 130,000 in the North West.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sam Royston of the Children's Society writes in The Guardian that the total number of children who lose out could be as high as one million, the majority from working class families.
Once a family with one child passes the £7,400 mark, it will need to earn an extra £1,000 a year, working 2.4 hours more each week at the national living wage, to cover the cost, he says.
Royston also cites research which found “loss of free school meals is a major disincentive to work, with six out of 10 parents admitting it has an impact on their decision to move into work or take on additional hours”.
Changes to free school meals, which had been in the Conservative election manifesto, were quietly dropped after the election, but now the party has been accused of trying to bring them in by the back door.
One area of Britain which seems to be protected from free school meal cuts is Northern Ireland, where the Government has just taken direct control of budgets and where the same threshold for eligibility will be nearly double the rest of the country, at £14,000.
HuffPost UK says this has led to “fresh criticism” of Theresa May’s alliance with the DUP and prompted claims the Government is seeking to “buy” support for its legislative programme.
“The Government’s inconsistency in applying the Universal Credit cut highlights a lack of real vision at the heart of our leaders’ policy,” says Evolve Politics.
“In order to get the requisite amount of votes for a deeply unpopular policy, they are reduced to exempting Northern Ireland from the fallout of that policy so that the DUP can vote it through for other areas. The perverseness is astounding,” adds the news site.
A last-minute series of votes tabled by Labour aimed at blocking changes to universal credit benefit thresholds and mitigating the effects of the cuts was defeated yesterday.
Whatever the economic rationale behind the move, it never looks good for the party in power to be seen to be taking food away from children – as Margaret “milk snatcher” Thatcher found out in 1970.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
What happened to Air India Flight 171?
Today's Big Question Preliminary report reveals 'fundamental reason' why jet crashed, but questions remain about whether it was 'deliberate, accidental or if a technical fault was responsible'
-
Why the world's busiest shipping routes are under threat
The Explainer Political tensions, mega ships and global warming offer new challenges – and opportunities
-
Bangkok: the new 'international capital of fine dining'
The Week Recommends Six Bangkok restaurants rank among the world's best
-
Corbynism returns: a new party on the Left
Talking Point Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana's breakaway progressive party has already got off to a shaky start
-
How will Labour pay for welfare U-turn?
Today's Big Question A dramatic concession to Labour rebels has left the government facing more fiscal dilemmas
-
Backbench rebellions and broken promises: is it getting harder to govern?
Today's Big Question Backbench rebellions and broken promises: is it getting harder to govern?
-
Labour's brewing welfare rebellion
The Explainer Keir Starmer seems determined to press on with disability benefit cuts despite a "nightmare" revolt by his own MPs
-
Is the G7 still relevant?
Talking Point Donald Trump's early departure cast a shadow over this week's meeting of the world's major democracies
-
'Gen Z has been priced out of a future, so we invest in the present'
instant opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Angela Rayner: Labour's next leader?
Today's Big Question A leaked memo has sparked speculation that the deputy PM is positioning herself as the left-of-centre alternative to Keir Starmer
-
Are we entering the post-Brexit era?
Today's Big Question Keir Starmer's 'big bet' with his EU reset deal is that 'nobody really cares' about Brexit any more