THE UK Government’s Education Secretary has suggested cutting school spending by £500 million and ending universal free meals for infants in England ahead of the Spring Statement.

Bridget Phillipson has also offered to axe funding for free period products in schools as well as dance, music and PE schemes as part of potential savings.

The controversial proposals are part of a package of measures being put forward by Phillipson as the Treasury prepares for Wednesday’s spending review, with reports Chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to announce £1.5 billion in cuts to the civil service budget.
[…]
Government sources said Phillipson had suggested making it means-tested instead, as free school meals for older children already are.

Education is devolved in Scotland – all pupils in primary one to five receive free school meals, as well as those in P6 and P7 who receive the Scottish Child Payment.

Other suggestions from Phillipson included ending the provision of free period products to girls and women in schools, stopping the junior ISA for children in care and ending the subsidy that provides some parents with wrap-around childcare.

Bridget Phillipson Insiders told The Times that some of the measures had been presented as potential cuts because they would be too politically difficult to get rid of.

  • davesmith@feddit.ukEnglish
    53·
    7 days ago

    I presume they will lumber on for however many years or decades, but they were done a long time ago.

    Offering nothing but a fake opposition to neo-liberals is just harmful. They won’t just merge with the Conservative party, but that is the honest thing to do.

    And now we have Andy Burnham, literally an officer of the conservative party until he left college now being touted as the next leader of the Labour party. There is literally no option for people to vote for. Implicit in the acting of voting is the giving of consent. If you give consent to this fake Tory v. Tory choice you do not have a right to complain when you get neoliberalism playing out, more cuts, and the UK steadily falling down the ranks of wealthy nations.

    • Skullgrid@lemmy.world
      13·
      7 days ago

      There is literally no option for people to vote for.

      Lib Dems. Greens.

      Fucking “Reform” was a party made a week before the election* and they got like a third of the fucking votes.

      Seems the british public is capable of supporting third parties, but only when they are fucking bananas.

      *exaggeration

      • davesmith@feddit.ukEnglish
        2·
        7 days ago

        Farage was on telly for years prior to the brexit referendum. Despite having mp’s the green were not.

        The lib dems campaigned on proportional representation and cutting tuition fees in 2010, then immediately scrapped those ideas when they got into coalition government.

        Please don’t waste my time, thanks.

        • Skullgrid@lemmy.world
          2·
          6 days ago

          So? Nothing stopping someone who’s currently on telly or from them getting on telly or youtube.

          Also, Farage was on LBC.