Nick Clegg furious Conservatives scrapped his infant lunch policy

Nick Clegg, formerly the Deputy Prime Minister in the Coalition government, has been watching from the sidelines as Theresa May announces her Conservative policies for the general election.

He tweeted mournfully when he found out his free infant hot lunch policy had been binned - in favour of free breakfasts.

The Conservatives are cutting the policy in order to save £650million that can go back into school budgets.

However, Mr Clegg is not happy about this cut, as it was a policy he proposed and announced back in 2013 when he was in power.

He wrote: "Free infant lunches policy was saving millions of struggling families over £450. Breakfasts covers fewer children. Cheaper for govt. Cynical".

In the current system, which came into place under the Coalition government, all children in the first three years of school - aged five, six and seven - get a hot meal at lunchtime.

Now every child in primary school will get a free breakfast instead.

The Conservatives have said this means the poorest children will still get lunch for free, as they do at other ages, and now they will get breakfast as well.

Sarah Olney, the Lib Dem education spokesperson, fumed: "Margaret Thatcher was known as the 'milk snatcher'. Theresa May will go down as the lunch snatcher.

"Children under Theresa May will go hungry: it is that stark, and that heartless. But she just doesn't care."

In 2013, Mr Clegg said: "I'm delighted to tell you that we are going to provide free school meals for all children in infant schools. From next September, we'll give every child in reception, year one and year two a healthy lunch every day, saving families more than £400 per year, per child.

"For the Liberal Democrats this is a first step. My ambition is to provide free school meals for all primary schoolchildren: another reason we want to get into government next time round."

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