School lunches for infants have transformed the school day

Scrapping free school lunches would waste over £3m spent upgrading kitchens in Hampshire

Plans by Theresa May to axe free school lunches would waste the £3.055.m given by Government to be invested in Hampshire to upgrade school kitchens, according to the Liberal Democrats.

It comes after figures revealed that over 34000 children in the county are set to lose out under the Conservative proposals.

When in government, the Liberal Democrats invested £160m upgrading school kitchen facilities to enable them to prepare hot lunches, including £3,055,034 across Hampshire’s schools.

Liberal Democrat candidate, Jackie Porter  for Winchester and Chandler’s Ford says:

“The Liberal Democrats in government invested £160m to give schools the kitchens make sure every child could sit down to the table with a nutritious hot meal at lunchtime.

“This policy was extremely successful and guaranteed that local children received at least two of their five a day in their school lunch, sharing food together is a useful learning experience too.

“But now Theresa May is threatening to throw that money down the drain.

“A Conservative measure designed to save money will waste money. Not only is it heartless, it is bad economics. Money spent on the early years is money well spent, saving on health and welfare in the future.

“I challenge my Conservative opponent to say whether, if elected, he would vote against their own party to ensure that children in Winchester receive a decent lunch.

“The Liberal Democrats will do their very best to protect free school lunches for infants and ensure that all primary school children will continue to be able to take up the offer of a healthy lunch at school.”