Free breakfast clubs in all Lancashire primary schools to begin next year

Rachel Reeves has announced that free breakfast clubs in all primary schools in Lancashire and the rest of England will be rolled out next year.

In her first Labour conference speech as Chancellor, she said the programme to tackle child poverty will kick-off in schools in April 2025. Ms Reeves said the scheme was "an investment in our young people, an investment in reducing child poverty and investment in our economy".

Labour made the commitment during the general election campaign in a move the party said would save parents more than £400-a-year. She told the conference: "I will judge my time in office a success if I know that at the end of it there are working-class kids from ordinary backgrounds who lead richer lives, their horizons expanded, and able (to) achieve and thrive in Britain today.

READ MORE: Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner promises 'better Britain' and plan for northerners

"That starts by taking the first steps on delivering another manifesto commitment, our promise, led by our Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, to introduce free breakfast clubs in every primary school across England. Today, I can announce that that will start in hundreds of schools for primary school-aged pupils from this April ahead of the national rollout, an investment in our young people, an investment in reducing child poverty, an investment in our economy."

The Chancellor said Labour is "not a party of protest" as her keynote conference speech was disrupted by hecklers. She received applause and a standing ovation as she began, but shortly afterwards a protester was hauled out while complaining about the Government’s arms sales to Israel.

The Chancellor said the programme to tackle child poverty will kick-off in schools in April 2025
The Chancellor said the programme to tackle child poverty will kick-off in schools in April 2025

The Chancellor shot back: "This is a changed Labour Party, a Labour Party that represents working people, not a party of protest." Campaign group Climate Resistance claimed responsibility for the protest.

Ms Reeves’ speech, a little over a month before her first Budget on October 30, was an attempt to strike a more optimistic tone about the UK’s economy after months of gloomy messages about the inheritance she was left by the Tories.

She said: "Because I know how much damage has been done in those 14 years, let me say one thing straight up: there will be no return to austerity. Conservative austerity was a destructive choice for our public services and for investment and growth too.

"Yes, we must deal with the Tory legacy and that means tough decisions but I won’t let that dim our ambition for Britain. So it will be a budget with real ambition, a budget to fix the foundations, a budget to deliver the change that we promised, a budget to rebuild Britain."

Subscribe to our daily newsletter LANCS LIVE NEWS and get all the biggest stories from across Lancashire direct to your inbox