Cllr Tim Roca said the total sum of the free school meals expenditure ‘is not far off what was budgeted for the Marble Arch Mound’

A SENIOR Conservative has slammed the decision to pay for free school meals for all primary school children as “gesture politics”, comparing it to niceties like “motherhood and apple pie”.

Cllr Jim Glen spoke up against the flagship policy that triggered child hunger debates around the country and that celebrity chef Jamie Oliver said had made him “proud”.

The city council announced in December that it would fund non-means-tested free lunches for Years 3 to 6 at state-funded primaries, saving families up to £550 per child per year. The government already provides free school meals up to Year 2.

The Pimlico North councillor said Westminster residents’ council tax should not be spent on “children of wealthy residents” who come into schools from outside the borough. Labour councillors said his comments showed the Conservatives in opposition were “far removed from the reality of the cost of living crisis”.

“Free school meals… Like motherhood and apple pie, who could argue with such a good idea?” said Cllr Glen, an art director. “I am aware of funding issues in schools and pressure families are facing. But this is gesture politics. Firstly, is this what council tax is for? Funding free school meals is not a responsibility of the council.

“There are enough pressures without overreaching what is rightly the business of central government. Unilaterally non-means-tested state benefit is not what council tax payers’ money is for.”

Cllr Glen said he had spoken to teachers who did not have kitchens big enough to cope with the new demand or the budgets for capital expansions.

“There are 38 state-funded schools in Westminster. Around 22 per cent come from outside the borough. Are we seeking to recoup costs from other authorities?”

He said the decision to help “children of wealthy residents from other boroughs” came at a time when “38 per cent of older people live in deprivation”, and added: “The real business of improving local people’s lives is a serious matter. Stop grandstanding and focus on the boring business of making residents’ lives better and concentrate on things you are actually responsible for.”

The city council’s cabinet member for young people, learning and leisure, Tim Roca, said the school meals plans had been “enthusiastically supported by headteachers” and charities including Barnardo’s.

Of the Tories, he added: “If they can’t get behind feeding hungry children, how far removed are they from the reality of this crisis? Are you aware of the number of people coming into youth clubs just to eat? This is saving families just when they need it most. We are conscious of the pressures on schools.

The benefit of making it universal is that overwhelmingly the support goes to poorer residents. It also changes the culture of the school.

“The evidence is irrefutable. It sets them up for later life. This is coming from the reserves. It is an emergency. It is right to foot the cost of it.

What we need to properly fund is social security and schools and our councils.”

Cllr Roca said the total sum of the free school meals expenditure £2.7m “is not far off what was budgeted for the Marble Arch Mound” and that the city council policy was helping to “rehabilitate the reputation of this council left in the gutter”.