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Hello, I'm Alicia McCarthy.

Thanks for downloading the yesterday in Parliament podcast.

On Thursday the 5th of June, the government confirmed it was expanding the number of children in England who will be eligible for free school meals.

The problem with some delicious foodie treats is that however much you eat,

you somehow always end up wanting more. Can he please today give the 470,000 children

affected by the cruel two-child benefit cap, some hope that the government is seriously

considering scrawny? Can the minister confirm that this is only the first step

and a long road to universal free school meals for all children in the UK?

Will the government take the opportunity to end holiday hunger

and provide funding for food during the holidays?

But the Conservative shadow education minister Neil O'Brien said that while free school

meals were welcome...

The things that have been cut to pay for it are much less welcome.

For example, the government broke its promise to fully fund the national insurance increase

for school.

Some schools 35% shortchanged.

They broke their promise to fully fund the pay award. And as a result,

according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, that leaves a £400 million funding hold for

our schools. The minister insisted the increase to free school meals was fully funded, though he

didn't go into the hard maths. This is possible thanks to the difficult decisions that this government and the

Chancellor's had to take to get the economy growing and put public finances back on a

...