Free school meals and fox hunting: All of Theresa May’s U-turns since the general election

Another day, another U-turn from Theresa May.

The prime minister’s plans to axe free lunches for infant school children have been scrapped, it emerged on Tuesday.

Schools minister Nick Gibb said the government would ditch the measure after being pressed by shadow education secretary Angela Rayner on the issue in the House of Commons.

In their pre-election manifesto, the Conservative Party had proposed cutting the lunches and offering a free breakfast for all primary school pupils instead.

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‘We have listened very carefully to the views of the sector on the proposal to remove infant free school meals and we have decided that it is right to retain the existing provision,’ said Mr Gibb.

But during their disastrous election campaign, the Tories claimed a free school breakfast is as effective at helping children learn as a hot meal at lunch and can be delivered at a 10th of the cost, about £60 million a year.

The scrapping of the school lunches plan is just the latest U-turn from Mrs May since she failed to win an outright majority for her party at the general election.

FOX HUNTING

During what she thought would be her march to election glory, Mrs May remarked that she had always been in favour of fox hunting, and promised a free vote in the House of Commons on repealing the Hunting Act and bringing it back.

The plan was later slammed as a ‘silly idea’ by former Tories chairman Grant Shapps, and it didn’t make it into the Queen’s Speech. This week, the final nail was put in the idea’s coffin when environment minister Therese Coffey said there were no plans to resurrect it in this session of parliament.

ENERGY BILLS

Before the election, the Conservatives pledged to cap the energy bills of more than 17 million households, but earlier this week it emerged that only the bills of 2.6 million poorer families would be helped.

Mrs May said before the general election: ‘It is clear to me that the energy market is not working for ordinary working families. Too many people simply aren’t getting a fair deal.’

But the U-turn was dubbed a ‘betrayal’ by former Conservative minister John Penrose.

TRIPLE PENSIONS LOCK

The Tories wanted to ditch the triple lock on pensions – the guarantee of an annual rise of at least 2.5% in the state pension – by 2020, but their confidence and supply deal with the Democratic Unionist Party (who insisted on keeping the triple lock) put paid to that policy.

WINTER FUEL ALLOWANCE

The Conservatives wanted to means test the winter fuel allowance so the one-off annual payment of up to £300 went only to poorer pensioners, but again, this was scuppered by the DUP deal.

GRAMMAR SCHOOLS

Theresa May wanted to end the ban on new grammar schools, and the Conservative manifesto included a policy that would allow new grammar schools to be built. But after failing to win a majority in the House of Commons, the plan was ditched.