About 900,000 children from poor families will no longer have access to free school lunches if British Prime Minister Theresa May pushes through cuts in the Conservation manifesto, the Guardian reported over the weekend.
Calling it a "surprise measure," the article pointed out that the cut would undermine May's earlier promise to help families "just about managing," who have jobs but struggle to make ends meet.
May planned to end universal free school lunches for infants and replace them with free breakfasts, which was considered more cost-effective by the Conservatives.
The move will cost families about 440 pounds (570 U.S. dollars) for every child impacted by the cut, and it's likely to save about 650 million pounds (845 million U.S. dollars) for the government a year. The Liberal Democrats pushed for the introduction of free infant school lunches in 2014.
The five main commitments in May's manifesto include: dealing with a strong economy, Britain's departure from the European Union (Brexit), social provision, an ageing society and fast-changing technology.
Among other things, the manifesto pledges to reduce annual net migration to the tens of thousands, and increase the threshold for income tax to 12,500 pounds (16,300 dollars) and reduce corporation tax to 17 percent by 2020.
