Campaigners call for free school meals for all Southampton children

Members of Southampton People’s Assembly gathered at the weekend to shine a light on food insecurity in the city.

Calls to tax the rich and prevent cuts in services were among those made by those in attendance at Bitterne Precinct on Saturday.

Mum-of-six Dawn Strutt was keen to show her support as a parent whose children needed free school meals.

Dawn Strutt (Image: Maya George, Newsquest)

The 36-year-old from Thornhill said: “Free school meals are a lifeline, including for parents like me, who have been there.

“One meal is often the only meal these children get in a day – this is the one meal they can depend on.”

“The one thing that needs to be stopped is voting for cuts. I understand that the current economic climate is not great, but things need to be cut in other areas.

“The poorest in our city suffer the most while the rich are twiddling their thumbs.

“This situation is not fair.”

Katie Cox, left, with her daughter Fiona Cox (Image: Maya George, Newsquest)

Fellow city resident Joe Dukes shared his thoughts during a speech made to onlookers.

He said: “Food poverty is a serious issue that we are facing in Southampton.

“We need to be taxing the rich to have a fairer distribution of wealth in our society.

“We need people to have access to better food; this is about a better world.

“This is an emergency we can’t ignore.”

This comes after new figures revealed a quarter of children in Southampton are living in relative poverty.

READ MORE: Thousands of children living in poverty

The figures show that in the year ending April 2022, 25 per cent of children were in a family whose income was below 60 per cent of the average household income, and claimed child benefit and at least one other household benefit.

Of these children, 7,924 were in absolute poverty as their family's income was lower than 60 per cent of the median income established in 2010-2011.

This accounted for 17.8 per cent of children in the area.

Event organiser Helen Field wants the government to take decisive action.

Helen Field (Image: Maya George, Newsquest)

The 69-year-old said: “It’s important to have free school meals for all children. That way, you know that everyone is covered as some families are above the threshold for free meals but are on low incomes.

“If the government really cares about the future generation, they should be prepared to feed them. It’s vital the government helps.”

Professor Barrie Margetts, councillor for Coxford, was also in attendance.

He said: “Families are really struggling, and we want to ensure children, all the way to college age, get free school meals.

“Is it right that children are going hungry in our city? It’s outrageous.

“We want to highlight the food inequalities we have in Southampton. All children should be entitled to fill their bellies with food.”