Free school meals for all primary school pupils in London, Sadiq Khan to announce

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }} The mayor of London will tomorrow announce a bold emergency package to extend free school meals to every primary school child in the capital for one year, in an effort to help poorer families through the cost of living crisis. Sadiq Khan’s £130m scheme will fund free meals for the 270,000 state primary school children in London who do not already receive free school meals, of whom an estimated 100,000 live in poverty. This is why I’m stepping forward with an emergency £130m scheme that will ensure every single primary pupil in the capital receives free school meals.” The Independent’s campaign, in which we partnered with a consortium of groups led by charity The Food Foundation, highlighted the plight of the 800,000 children in poverty in England who are excluded from free school meals, and exposed how some hungry children were so desperate that they were stealing food from school canteens and supermarkets to eat. It still leaves around 700,000 children in poverty who will not receive free school meals – including approximately 100,000 in London’s secondary schools and 600,000 outside of the capital.