Can the government really not afford to pay for free school meals?

Two questions need to be asked. One is whether this is the most cost-effective option. The other is whether this will lead to another free TV licence or triple lock pensions situation, writes Hamish McRae

Sunday 25 October 2020 16:24 GMT
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Making sure our children are well fed is, as Americans would put it, one of the motherhood and apple pie issues that must be at the top of any decent society’s objectives
Making sure our children are well fed is, as Americans would put it, one of the motherhood and apple pie issues that must be at the top of any decent society’s objectives

Is Marcus Rashford right? Can the government afford to pay for free school meals during the holidays and if so, why doesn’t it do it?

The answer to the first question is: yes of course he is. It is affordable, and as we have seen in political terms, it is damaging to the government not to follow his lead. The numbers are not large in the totality of public spending. Some £120m has been cited as the cost of extending the free schools meal programme on these lines and that number feels about right. Public spending this year is going to be more than £1 trillion – the Office for Budget Responsibility’s July estimates were that it would total £1,062bn, though the latest revenue and borrowing numbers look a little less daunting and revenues have held up better than forecast then.

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