Millions of children are going hungry in the UK. Teachers are seeing kids stealing food from their classmates, eating rubbers because they are so hungry and taking school lunches home to feed their younger siblings. The cost of living crisis is making the situation far worse, with food prices soaring at dangerously high rates and paltry wages failing to keep up.
Free school meals are a lifeline, guaranteeing a hot and nutritious meal to kids who would otherwise fall through the cracks. But the stigma around the scheme means disadvantaged children are made to feel different from their peers, and the eligibility criteria is so strict in parts of the country that hundreds of thousands of children living in poverty get no support.
So what is the solution? Hundreds of charities, medical bodies, politicians, faith leaders and celebrities are backing a National Education Union (NEU) campaign to get the government to introduce free school meals for all primary school children. They are out to prove that it will go a
