A NEW law to extend universal free school meals to all primary school children got over its first parliamentary hurdle today.

Laying the Bill before the Commons, Labour MP Zarah Sultana said the legislation was needed to address the “injustice” of schoolchildren going hungry in one of the world’s wealthiest countries. 

She pointed out that nearly one million children living in poverty in England are missing out on hot nutritious meals at school because they are not eligible for the support. 

Ms Sultana said she had received testimonies from parents and teachers who spoke of hungry children “bursting into tears” at school and resorting to stealing food on the way to class. 

“When caught, they explained it was the only way that they would have food and they were too scared to ask for help,” she said. 

“My inbox is flooded with heartbreaking accounts like these, just a tiny example of the pain and anguish experienced when children are denied a decent meal.”

In England, children only receive universal free school meals up to Year 3, when eligibility becomes restricted to children from households on universal credit with a total income of £7,400 or less. 

Ms Sultana’s Bill, which is backed by a broad range of cross-party MPs, would extend this support and scrap the mean-tested element, which she said “provokes stigma.”

The scheme could be paid for by revoking tax breaks for private schools, she suggested.

“So the question I put to the house is do we want to protect tax breaks for elite private schools or do we want to feed hungry kids?”

The Bill will receive its second reading in the Commons on January 20.