I WAS disappointed, yet not really surprised, to see that the list of Keir Starmer u-turns has increased yet again.

It now includes backing Brexit and breaking its pledges on rent controls, tuition fees, free school meals, freedom of movement, nationalisation, progressive taxation, etc, etc.

As a former teacher, and recipient of free school meals in the 1960s, the one which stood out for me was breaking their pledge to provide free school meals for all children.

I still find it hard to believe that the Labour Party which was founded on the principle of supporting working class people and those in poverty, and which I voted for at every election from the age of 18 until 'Tory' Blair and his cronies turned it into another Tory party, would go back on its pledge to provide free school meals to all.

As I said, I received free school meals when I was a school pupil. We were given a different coloured ticket from the others who paid for their school meals. While it didn’t bother me, I had many friends who felt embarrassed by the fact that they felt that others were sniggering at them behind their back.

When I became a teacher in the 1970s it was still obvious to me that some people were still attaching a stigma to those receiving free school meals. While efforts have been made to mitigate this feeling of stigma, the best way to remove it completely is to give free school meals to all pupils. This is particularly relevant now when, after Brexit and years of Tory austerity, we now have record levels of millions of families suffering from in-work poverty.

For decades now, teachers and others in education have been saying that pupils who are going hungry are the very ones who are falling further behind in their education attainment.

Inverclyde Council has, out of its own hard stretched budget, already decided to provide free school meals for all P6 and P7 pupils but they shouldn’t have to make such a difficult decision on how to spend their budgets.

The Scottish Government said that they would provide funding to Councils for this by last year but has now pushed this back to 2024. If possible, they must try and bring this in sooner as this should be a national initiative.

Personally, I would like to see all pupils, in secondary as well as primary schools, receive free meals. Poverty doesn’t stop when a pupil moves from primary to secondary and, as I said, poverty is actually growing for hard working families affected by austerity.

The Scottish Government has said that it is reviewing whether free school meals for all in secondary schools can be provided and the answer to this should be yes.

However, just like Inverclyde Council is having to make hard budget decisions in order to introduce free school meals in P6 and P7, so the Scottish Government will also have to make hard budget decisions in order to introduce free school meals for all pupils in secondary school.

Providing free school meals for all should be a moral decision and not simply a political one.

Only with control over all of our financial and economic levers will Scotland be able to pursue this policy and the many others that can improve the lives of everyone in Scotland.

This can only come about when we are an independent country free from the control of Westminster governments for whom we haven’t voted for decades.

Only then can the people of Scotland truly get governments they voted for, and only then can the people of Scotland insist that the governments they choose bring in policies that we the people of Scotland want.

 

Tom Tracey

Greenock