MPs back our free school meals for all bill

By Ed Harlow, Haringey NEU district secretary

THE NEU joined dozens of MPs at an event in the Houses of Parliament to promote our free school meals (FSM) for all campaign.

I was delighted to be able to speak about why the campaign is important to me.

Zarah Sultana MP proposed a tenminute rule bill that afternoon calling for FSM for all primary children. Introducing this bill will put pressure on the Government and opposition parties to make FSM universal. The NEU was pleased to partner with Zarah to build support among MPs for the campaign, which has been running since September 2022.

We know that for many children, their school meal may be the only hot meal they have each day. We know that hunger and poverty embed educational inequality at a young age. Hungry children cannot learn and universal FSM help to ensure that children have their basic needs met so they can thrive at school. Providing FSM to all primary age pupils will also remove the stigma some children feel around the entitlement.

Our FSM for all campaign has so far had great coverage in the national media, and gained the support of more than 100 charities, community groups and faith organisations n Sign the open letter and contact your MP at freeschoolmealsforall.org.uk/take-action

Many MPs from all over the country joined us to pledge support. NEU joint general secretary Kevin Courtney also spoke, and he and MPs answered questions from pupils receiving FSM from schools in East London.

We look forward to working with MPs again to ensure that every child has a hot, nutritious meal in school, but this is just one part of the campaign.

We know we need to keep up the pressure in order to make sure that no child is left behind.