Labour has leaked a plan to end universal free meals for infant school pupils: ‘Sir Kid Starver’ strikes again?
Prime Minister Keir Starmer received his unflattering nickname after he ordered his MPs to vote down a motion to end the limit on child benefits, ensuring they continue to be paid for only the first two children in a household – and suspended the party membership of MPs who rebelled against his order.
Now it seems he is going “further and faster”, to quote his Chancellor, in ruining the lives of people whose lives have hardly even begun, by actually starving them, in a package of penny-pinching measures that also includes axing funding for free period products in schools and ending dance, music and PE schemes.
This would be hugely hypocritical, as Labour under Starmer was vocal in supporting Marcus Rashford’s demand for schools to provide free meals to children who needed them during the Covid lockdowns.
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Labour even forced a parliamentary vote on the issue in October 2020, though the Conservative majority initially voted against it.
Now this:
Of course it is entirely possible that Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson is just flying a particularly nasty-looking kite as a favour for Starmer, on the understanding that it won’t happen but will make any decision he does take seem more palatable.
That would be underhanded, manipulative politics of a kind that we were led to believe Labour would not practise.
So perhaps we should congratulate Phillipson and anyone else behind this stunt (Morgan McSweeney, perhaps?) for putting the government in a unique situation.
They are now damned if they do, and damned if they don’t.
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‘Sir Kid Starver’ strikes again?
Labour has leaked a plan to end universal free meals for infant school pupils: ‘Sir Kid Starver’ strikes again?
Prime Minister Keir Starmer received his unflattering nickname after he ordered his MPs to vote down a motion to end the limit on child benefits, ensuring they continue to be paid for only the first two children in a household – and suspended the party membership of MPs who rebelled against his order.
Now it seems he is going “further and faster”, to quote his Chancellor, in ruining the lives of people whose lives have hardly even begun, by actually starving them, in a package of penny-pinching measures that also includes axing funding for free period products in schools and ending dance, music and PE schemes.
This would be hugely hypocritical, as Labour under Starmer was vocal in supporting Marcus Rashford’s demand for schools to provide free meals to children who needed them during the Covid lockdowns.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
Labour even forced a parliamentary vote on the issue in October 2020, though the Conservative majority initially voted against it.
Now this:
Of course it is entirely possible that Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson is just flying a particularly nasty-looking kite as a favour for Starmer, on the understanding that it won’t happen but will make any decision he does take seem more palatable.
That would be underhanded, manipulative politics of a kind that we were led to believe Labour would not practise.
So perhaps we should congratulate Phillipson and anyone else behind this stunt (Morgan McSweeney, perhaps?) for putting the government in a unique situation.
They are now damned if they do, and damned if they don’t.
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:
Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). 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
5) Follow Vox Political writer Mike Sivier on BlueSky
6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical
7) Feel free to comment!
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.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is 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:
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