Sweeping cuts to school meal eligibility have been waved through in a Commons vote.

The Conservative government said the shake-up is “necessary to ensure that this funding is targeted towards the most disadvantaged families.”

That’s except in Northern Ireland, of coure, where the earnings threshold for parents to lose the right to free school meals for their child will be £14,000 – because the Conservatives need the support of the Northern Irish DUP to get any legislation through Parliament.

This is a government so twisted, every minister needs the help of a civil servant to screw them into their clothes in the morning.

(Perhaps I could have phrased that better…)

What I want to know is: What happened to “English votes for English laws”?

Could the Tories not rely on the number of MPs they have representing English constituencies to get the vote passed?

It turns out that they could – an England-only breakdown of votes shows that they could have won by 282-214.

So why involve the DUP at all?

This is, after all, legislation that affects England alone, isn’t it?

No?

It sure looks like it!

The outrage is palpable:

Tories and their DUP allies waved through sweeping cuts to free school meal eligibility tonight in a bitter Commons vote.

Campaigners say the shake-up will leave a million fewer children eligible in future than if the rules had continued as they are now.

Currently all families on Universal Credit can claim free school meals – a transitional measure to help people move to the six-in-one benefit.

But from April 1, children in Year 3 and above on Universal Credit in England will not normally be eligible if their parents earn more than £7,400.

Source: Tories just voted to cut children’s free school meal eligibility in move that ‘could deprive a million kids’ – Mirror Online

Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:

Here are four ways to be sure you’re among the first to know what’s going on.

1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (in the left margin). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.

2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical

3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/

Join the Vox Political Facebook page.

4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com

And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!

If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!

Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.

The Livingstone Presumption is now available
in either print or eBook format here:

Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:

The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here: