FMQs: Free school meal pledge ‘another empty SNP promise’

First Minister John Swinney has been accused of breaking a promise he made as education secretary to deliver free school meals to all primary school children.

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross, raising the issue at the first FMQs after recess, said it was “another empty SNP promise to add to the pile”.

But John Swinney insisted the blame lay with Westminster, saying “cumulative inflation” had “eroded” the Scottish Government's budget.

As education secretary, Swinney committed to providing universal meals to all primary school children by 2022. That was later delayed to the end of 2026.

The policy has been subject to a phased rollout, with P1-5 currently in receipt. The intention had been to expand that to P6 and P7 next but that will now not happen.

Swinney confirmed older primary school children whose families are eligible for the Scottish Child Payment will receive free school meals by the end of this parliamentary session.

He said: “We will not be able, in this parliamentary term, to roll out eligibility on a universal basis across primary 6 and 7 pupils because our budget has been eroded by the fiscal mismanagement and sky high inflation which Douglas Ross was party to creating as part of his support for the United Kingdom government.”

Ross said the first minister was breaking a promise on free school meals, had downgraded its ambitions on eradicating the attainment gap, and was not doing enough to tackle child poverty.

He said: “[Swinney] is announcing today to people across Scotland that the promise he made, the promise he asked people to support the SNP to get them into government, has now been broken.

“Eradicating the attainment gap was support to be the SNP’s number one priority, but the attainment gap is as wide as ever, and now its clear that the top priority around eradicating child poverty is going the same way, because the first minister has just announced they have abandoned their pledge to provide free school meals for all.”

Scottish Green co-leader Lorna Slater accused the first minister of “betrayal” over the policy, and asked how voters could take the commitment to tackle child poverty seriously.

She also said the government had “undone, slashed, watered down or shelved” policies her party had championed in government, including the ban on conversion therapy.

The first minister said the Scottish Government had to “face up to difficult financial choices”.

And on the conversion therapy ban, he said his government had not shelved it but were seeking to work with the UK government on the matter to avoid a repetition of what happened with the Gender Recognition Reform Bill.

He said: “We think it’s a pragmatic step to take to work with the United Kingdom Government to determine if there is a UK-wide approach to this which would enable us to avoid some of the difficulties that we found ourselves in in relation to the gender recognition legislation.”

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar used his time at FMQs to raise issues with the NHS.

“Week after week, the first minister says sorry. And week after week, those sorries still do not cut waiting lists, and people are still failed by this government,” he said.

Swinney said his government was “very much focused upon improving the performance” of the NHS, including taking steps to improve capacity.