:00:20. > :00:29.Right. Hello everybody, thanks for coming. I hope we are now going to
:00:30. > :00:39.turn on the poster which we are launching today. As if by magic. It
:00:40. > :00:42.is going to appear... Look at that. I'd like to say a few words about
:00:43. > :00:51.why we're launching this poster today. Of the many things coming up
:00:52. > :00:55.on the doorstep in my own area and South Yorkshire and other
:00:56. > :00:58.constituencies are visited, obviously the Conservative plans for
:00:59. > :01:08.a demented taxes meant them a lot. What keeps coming up over and over
:01:09. > :01:13.again particular among families with small children. Is the anger at
:01:14. > :01:18.Conservative's plans to scrap universally available free of charge
:01:19. > :01:24.lunches would reproduce when the Lib Dems are in government. For classes
:01:25. > :01:28.years one and two. There are many reasons why we strongly object to
:01:29. > :01:31.this regressive decision, this unfair decision by the
:01:32. > :01:40.Conservatives. It is socially punitive, hits the poorest hardest,
:01:41. > :01:47.I woke up one about that the second. It is cynical, deeply dishonest as
:01:48. > :01:52.well. The Conservative's claim that they are replacing the freely
:01:53. > :01:56.available lunches made available to all infants at primary school with
:01:57. > :02:03.universally available breakfasts. Yet they will only provide,
:02:04. > :02:10.according to the only published figures, ?16 million -- ?60 million.
:02:11. > :02:13.That works out at around 7p per breakfasts. How dare they insult
:02:14. > :02:19.people's intelligence in pretending that a 7p breakfast for little
:02:20. > :02:24.children in primary school is in any way an adequate replacement for
:02:25. > :02:28.snatching away the healthy bought lunches which are being provided to
:02:29. > :02:32.them at the moment? That is the reason for this poster, to highlight
:02:33. > :02:37.the sheer dishonesty which the Conservatives are claiming they will
:02:38. > :02:43.offer a decent replacement at breakfast time when they are doing
:02:44. > :02:51.nothing of the sort. The second thing I want to say is one of the
:02:52. > :02:57.reasons we introduced this measure is we discover, when we looked into
:02:58. > :03:01.it when we were in government, that there were thousands and thousands
:03:02. > :03:05.of children, from working families on low incomes, families who are
:03:06. > :03:10.categorised as being in poverty, who were not eligible for free school
:03:11. > :03:17.meals under the means tested arrangement. When we ended used it,
:03:18. > :03:22.four in ten children in poverty were not eligible. And the Children's
:03:23. > :03:27.Society has calculated that 50% of all children who should be receiving
:03:28. > :03:32.free school meals because they are in poverty did not have access. That
:03:33. > :03:35.is why we made those lunches universally available. The
:03:36. > :03:46.statistics we were released today, based on work by the Children's
:03:47. > :03:50.Society, so 250,000 children from families categorised as in poverty,
:03:51. > :03:54.will now have those universally three available lunches snatched
:03:55. > :03:58.away from them. What possible justification can there be?
:03:59. > :04:04.Especially when the May talks about helping people manage. When one of
:04:05. > :04:08.the first announcements she makes is lunches from the very struggling
:04:09. > :04:13.families who made the greatest help. So my final challenge is this. It is
:04:14. > :04:20.a talent I make on behalf of the Liberal Democrats to every
:04:21. > :04:24.Conservative candidate. The Conservatives were made to introduce
:04:25. > :04:31.this measure because of the pressure from Lib Dems. We pass it into law,
:04:32. > :04:35.the Tories then stood on a manifesto two years ago, that they will retain
:04:36. > :04:40.universally available free lunches for children in the first three
:04:41. > :04:46.years of primary school. And yet now, they are being instructed by
:04:47. > :04:50.Theresa May, in this heartless, callous, regressive act, to snatch
:04:51. > :04:54.those lunches away. In the manner in which
:04:55. > :05:01.-- in which she has described. So come clean with voters in each
:05:02. > :05:06.constituency in which they are standing. And tell us this, I will
:05:07. > :05:11.do stand up against Theresa May and -- are they going to stand up
:05:12. > :05:14.against the May and repeal the legislation? Which is what will
:05:15. > :05:18.happen if the legislation takes place. Or will they defend the
:05:19. > :05:23.thousands upon thousands of families and young children who have
:05:24. > :05:27.benefited from this measure in the first place. That is the challenge.
:05:28. > :05:30.Will the Conservatives stand up for kids from poor families who need a
:05:31. > :05:35.healthy lunch, or are they simply going to do what the reason May and
:05:36. > :05:39.struck them. And that is why we are releasing this poster today. Thank
:05:40. > :05:43.you very much, I give coming, particularly all the children for
:05:44. > :05:56.coming today. -- thank you for coming. Down here please, thank you.
:05:57. > :06:29.That's enough pointing, thank you. reporting Scotland to Matt, the SNP
:06:30. > :06:34.launch their manifesto. Our Kezia Dugdale and only called in the an
:06:35. > :06:54.Kezia Dugdale our Kezia Dugdale and Jeremy Corbyn
:06:55. > :06:58.at odds over this issue? Nine more sleeps to polling day. The final
:06:59. > :07:02.manifestos are being launched, joined the battle lines for the big
:07:03. > :07:06.boat ahead. Today, it was the SNP's turn.