Television presenter Ana Boulter has launched a scathing attack on Labour's expansion of free school meals, accusing the government of "gaslighting" the public over the policy.The government announced yesterday that all children from households receiving Universal Credit will become eligible for free school meals from September 2026, regardless of income level.The expansion will affect over 500,000 additional pupils, according to Department for Education estimates. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer hailed it as "a truly historic moment for our country."Speaking to GB News, Boulter, who is also a mother, said: "It's another deflection. Honestly speaking, it's not free. I really wish we could just get back to basics."READ THE FULL STORY HERE
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00:00Free school meals are being expanded in England to support low-income families.
00:05Yes, so from September 2026, which is the next school year,
00:09all pupils whose families claim universal credit will qualify,
00:12scrapping the current £7,400 income cap.
00:15So, is it the state's responsibility to feed your children,
00:20or is this more money being spent with little return?
00:24Well, joining us now is the TV presenter, Anna Bolter.
00:27Anna, what do you make of this new announcement?
00:31It's another deflection, honestly speaking.
00:34It's not free. I really wish we could just get back to basics.
00:37There is nothing free about this. It is taxpayer-funded food for children.
00:42I personally hate the terminology free school meals because I don't think it does the children any good,
00:46and it's not true. It's not free. It's a political choice as to where your money's going.
00:51And my interpretation is it's another state intervention on how we bring our children up
00:57and how families are run, because it's not parental choice anymore, is it?
01:02I almost think we're starting at the wrong end of the scale here.
01:06Children who need food should be fed. The end.
01:08There's never going to be an argument against that.
01:11But all this is doing is moving the threshold,
01:14a bit like you were just saying with the winter fuel payments.
01:16We're just moving the threshold out, allowing a few more in,
01:20pushing a few more out,
01:21and taking away from a parent's responsibility of feeding your children.
01:26I mean, Keir Starmer says it's common sense that children who are hungry won't do well at school.
01:30But is it not common sense that if you have children, you should feed them?
01:34Well, traditionally, yes.
01:37But Anna, I'm glad you make the point that it's not free,
01:39because it is very annoying when people say things are free that are paid for
01:43by people who pay their taxes every day.
01:45But also, because I'm not sure the state necessarily will get good value for the money it puts in,
01:53I mean, contracts.
01:54Do you think they're going to be paying the right price for the food that they're dishing out,
01:58or do you think they're going to be paying against the odds?
02:00Well, let's look at what we've already got with free school meals.
02:03So schools and their budgets can't even afford to cover the cost of existing free school meals.
02:08So that's the state of play at the minute.
02:10So without all of these extra children in September 25 and 26,
02:15and again, if it's so important, why are they hungry for another year?
02:19If it's that high on the agenda, why are we waiting another year before we feed them?
02:23To me, it says more distraction from what other messes are going on in the government
02:27and a bit more gaslighting, but that's only my opinion.
02:30But in terms of bang for your buck, you know, we've got 60p for a child having a breakfast.
02:35And we know that out of that 60p, we have to cover staff costs.
02:39We have to cover running the actual breakfast club.
02:42How much of that is going into the food?
02:45We also know that children are having double breakfasts.
02:47So what tells us that lunch, well, they're having breakfast at home
02:52and then they're putting pressure on mum and dad,
02:54please can I go to breakfast club because it's fun
02:56and they all sit around and have, you know, a bowl of whatever and a piece of toast.
02:59And mum and dad go, yeah, okay, well, off you pop.
03:02And they get the 60p beige breakfast.
03:04Now, what's going to be dished up at lunchtime?
03:08Because if we can't afford the existing free school meals
03:12that we're allegedly dishing up now, and we're cutting budgets,
03:16we're cutting courses, we're making teachers redundant,
03:20we're not improving our actual schools, where's this money coming from?
03:24And again, it's another brilliant headline, isn't it?
03:27We're giving free school meals.
03:29Where from?
03:30You know, do we grow money trees at schools as well?
03:32Is it, here's your free school lunch and now for pudding,
03:35you can go and get a tenner off the money tree that's growing outside.
03:39It's utter rubbish.
03:41Sorry.
03:41And it's worth stressing, this isn't children who are already,
03:45obviously a certain section of children are already on free school meals.
03:49Those on the poverty line have free lunches at schools already.
03:53This is those children who aren't on the poverty line,
03:56but the next step on, the next half million children.
03:59It's going to cost a billion pounds, we expect, across the country.
04:05I mean, this is not funny money.
04:07This is serious money.
04:09Well, it is.
04:10And again, it's that cheap headline of we're putting 500 pounds in your pocket.
04:14I mean, these pockets must have holes in them because nobody's seeing the money that's going in
04:19these pockets.
04:19And I think if you looked at what families would actually like out of that huge budget that you've
04:25just said, they'd probably like the cost of existence.
04:27And it's not cost of living, it's cost of existence to come down.
04:31And if they were not having to spend the astronomical fees on their energy bills,
04:35their own food bills, their rent, their mortgages, you know, just living,
04:40there may be more money in the pot to provide an actual family meal where we all sit around
04:45the table and talk to each other, argue, you know, that's what happens in families.
04:49That's the central nucleus of a family.
04:52It's where children develop.
04:53Well, absolutely.
04:54And I'm going to have to leave it there.
04:55But thank you very much indeed.
04:57Speaking from the heart there, good stuff.
04:59Anna Bolter, TV presenter there.
05:01Not much I disagreed with there, I must say, Tom.
05:03No, absolutely passionately put.