24 September 2024 , 16:43
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Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the free schoold breakfast programme to tackle child hunger will kick-off in schools in April 2025 as she delivered a major speech
Free breakfast clubs in all primary schools in England will begin being rolled out next year, Rachel Reeves has announced.
The Chancellor announced the plan to tackle child hunger will kick off in 750 primary schools in April 2025 in a major speech to the Labour conference. She said the scheme was "an investment in our young people, an investment in reducing child poverty and investment in our economy".
"An investment so that, in years to come, we can proudly say that we left behind a Britain where the next generation has a chance to do better than those who came before it," she added.
Ms Reeves said hundreds of schools for primary-aged children will begin receiving the support in seven months - ahead of the national rollout. Labour made the commitment ahead of the general election campaign in a move the party said would save parents more than £400-a-year.
The plan was previously estimated to cost around £365million per year and will be funded by ending the loopholes in the non-dom tax status for the super wealthy. The £7million pilot will begin in the summer term - with an aim to get breakfast clubs into all primaries by September.
A spokesman for Ms Reeves said: "The idea being that the summer term is the pilot before the full rollout as soon as possible, which we hope to be the beginning of the new school year in September."
The first schools will be picked by the Department for Education over the coming months. Ms Reeves’s spokesman said: "As part of the pilot we need to see how that scheme works in towns, cities, rural communities. It’s not based on need, it’s based on how we can get the pilot ready for the full rollout later in the year." Further cash is expected to be allocated in next month’s spending review.
It came after Ms Reeves’ speech was briefly interrupted by hecklers shouting stop "selling arms to Israel" - before being hauled out of the conference arena by security guards. Keeping her composure, she replied that the Labour Party is "not a party of protest". She added: "This is a changed Labour Party, a Labour Party that represents working people".
The Climate Resistance group claimed responsibility for the disruption to the Chancellor’s speech - in protest at arms sales to Israel and polluting industries. The group said a banner was unfurled reading: “Still backing polluters, still arming Israel - we voted for change”.
Ms Reeves - the first woman to hold the role of Chancellor since the post was created over 800 years ago - also received a standing ovation from party members. In the first speech of a Labour Chancellor to the party’s conference in 15 years, she promised there would be no "return to austerity" and vowed to "rebuild Britain" after 14 years of Conservative rule.
In little over a month before her first Budget, the Chancellor attempted to strike a more optimistic tone after months of gloomy messages about the inheritance left by the Tories.
She said: "Because I know how much damage has been done in those 14 years, let me say one thing straight up: there will be no return to austerity. Conservative austerity was a destructive choice for our public services and for investment and growth too.
"Yes, we must deal with the Tory legacy and that means tough decisions but I won’t let that dim our ambition for Britain. So it will be a budget with real ambition, a budget to fix the foundations, a budget to deliver the change that we promised, a budget to rebuild Britain."
The Chancellor also told the conference Labour will soon - as promised last year - appoint a Covid Corruption Commissioner to target "rip-off artists and fraudsters". She said: "It could not be more urgent. And I have put a block on any contract being abandoned or waived until it has been independently assessed by that Commissioner."
"I won’t turn a blind eye to those who used a national emergency to line their own pockets. I won’t let them get away with it. That money belongs in our police, it belongs in our health service, and it belongs in our schools. And Conference, we want that money back."