Kingston upon Hull’s groundbreaking free-school meals service has won an eleventh hour reprieve, avoiding the axe for now.

A move to kill off Hull’s free school meals service at the council’s budget meeting last Thursday (1 March) was thwarted by a Labour-led amendment – with 32 for and 26 against – provisionally guaranteeing funding during the new financial year, starting April.

However, the Liberal Democrats, who have made abolishing the service a cornerstone of their policy since taking control of the council in May 2006, could yet succeed if they win enough support in May’s local elections.

Hull MP Diana Johnson, who campaigned to maintain the service along with her Hull colleagues John Prescott and Alan Johnson, welcomed the reprieve but said the battle was not yet been won.

“It is good news that enough Hull councillors regarded the public health issue of childhood obesity as important enough to allocate funding to continuing the Eat Well Do Well policy over the coming year,” she said.

“However, the Lib Dems and Tories in Hull are determined to abolish the policy if they have enough votes on Hull City Council after this year’s elections. This successful and groundbreaking initiative therefore remains under threat.”

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By Chris Druce

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