How about it John? Make sure children get a proper start to the school day - Susan Dalgety

Scottish Labour is to ‘consider’ how free breakfasts in schools can help children

A report just published by poverty charity, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, reveals that almost four million people across the UK find themselves in destitution – unable to keep themselves dry, warm and fed.

Nearly half of primary school children come to school too tired, hungry and upset to learn properly. And one Scottish GP told the charity that a patient with heart problems missed over a dozen health appointments because he couldn’t afford public transport. Hardship can kill, quite literally.

Labour is right when it says that growing our fragile economy is its top priority. A flourishing economy creates jobs and successful businesses pay more tax which can then be invested in vital welfare and public services. But you can’t fix an economy the size of ours overnight, or even in a couple of years, especially after the shocks of Brexit and the pandemic. It will take some time before Labour’s plans to deliver economic stability, and what is to happen to those millions of people living in destitution meantime?

UK Labour has at least promised one intervention that will make a real difference - free breakfasts in every primary school in England, a move some commentators have ridiculed as being the mark of a nanny state. But surely this is a very sensible investment in our children. No child can learn properly if she is hungry, nor will she grow properly if she doesn’t receive enough nutrition. If parents can’t afford a healthy breakfast for their child – and the awful truth is many cannot – then of course the state should step in. Scottish Labour has only promised to "consider” how free breakfasts in schools can help children, but as education is devolved to the Scottish government, even if Labour win the general election, it is the SNP’s responsibility to look after our most vulnerable schoolchildren.

So how about it John Swinney? Ditch free prescriptions, which only benefit the well-off and get rid of baby boxes. Instead, spend the money helping those families in the worst hardship by making sure their children get a proper start to their school day.