IN a recent press release the administration of Inverclyde Council said, 'As a council we are committed to ensuring our young people have the best start in life and that includes free school meals from P1 right through to P7, the first local authority in Scotland to offer that'.

Now, I am pleased that the council finally delivered on my relentless campaign to roll out free school meals for all primary school children but the council statement confused me. Some current councillors will remember they once called my ambition that every child in Inverclyde received a free school meal a 'vanity project'.

As part of the Inverclyde Council budget set earlier this year, Inverclyde councillors agreed to 'implement National Qualifying criteria for Free School Meals from 2028/29'.

So in essence, as Inverclyde was offering a better provision (such as the threshold for entitlement being lower than the rest of Scotland - which was put in place after the Greenock Telegraph highlighted that the children of mothers moving onto universal credit were losing free school meal entitlement) this means that councillors are planning to cut free school meal entitlement for children across Inverclyde.

Therefore, has the council reversed its decision to cut school meal provision down the line but not highlighted that, or is the council still planning to cut free school meal provision with one hand whilst on the other singing their own praises about a level of entitlement set to face a devastating cut?

Christopher McEleny
Gourock