Nick Clegg Speech Election 2017

Right. Hello everybody, thanks for coming. I hope we are now going to

turn on the poster which we are launching today. As if by magic. It

is going to appear... Look at that. I'd like to say a few words about

why we're launching this poster today. Of the many things coming up

on the doorstep in my own area and South Yorkshire and other

constituencies are visited, obviously the Conservative plans for

a demented taxes meant them a lot. What keeps coming up over and over

again particular among families with small children. Is the anger at

Conservative's plans to scrap universally available free of charge

lunches would reproduce when the Lib Dems are in government. For classes

years one and two. There are many reasons why we strongly object to

this regressive decision, this unfair decision by the

Conservatives. It is socially punitive, hits the poorest hardest,

I woke up one about that the second. It is cynical, deeply dishonest as

well. The Conservative's claim that they are replacing the freely

available lunches made available to all infants at primary school with

universally available breakfasts. Yet they will only provide,

according to the only published figures, ?16 million -- ?60 million.

That works out at around 7p per breakfasts. How dare they insult

people's intelligence in pretending that a 7p breakfast for little

children in primary school is in any way an adequate replacement for

snatching away the healthy bought lunches which are being provided to

them at the moment? That is the reason for this poster, to highlight

the sheer dishonesty which the Conservatives are claiming they will

offer a decent replacement at breakfast time when they are doing

nothing of the sort. The second thing I want to say is one of the

reasons we introduced this measure is we discover, when we looked into

it when we were in government, that there were thousands and thousands

of children, from working families on low incomes, families who are

categorised as being in poverty, who were not eligible for free school

meals under the means tested arrangement. When we ended used it,

four in ten children in poverty were not eligible. And the Children's

Society has calculated that 50% of all children who should be receiving

free school meals because they are in poverty did not have access. That

is why we made those lunches universally available. The

statistics we were released today, based on work by the Children's

Society, so 250,000 children from families categorised as in poverty,

will now have those universally three available lunches snatched

away from them. What possible justification can there be?

Especially when the May talks about helping people manage. When one of

the first announcements she makes is lunches from the very struggling

families who made the greatest help. So my final challenge is this. It is

a talent I make on behalf of the Liberal Democrats to every

Conservative candidate. The Conservatives were made to introduce

this measure because of the pressure from Lib Dems. We pass it into law,

the Tories then stood on a manifesto two years ago, that they will retain

universally available free lunches for children in the first three

years of primary school. And yet now, they are being instructed by

Theresa May, in this heartless, callous, regressive act, to snatch

those lunches away. In the manner in which

-- in which she has described. So come clean with voters in each

constituency in which they are standing. And tell us this, I will

do stand up against Theresa May and -- are they going to stand up

against the May and repeal the legislation? Which is what will

happen if the legislation takes place. Or will they defend the

thousands upon thousands of families and young children who have

benefited from this measure in the first place. That is the challenge.

Will the Conservatives stand up for kids from poor families who need a

healthy lunch, or are they simply going to do what the reason May and

struck them. And that is why we are releasing this poster today. Thank

you very much, I give coming, particularly all the children for

coming today. -- thank you for coming. Down here please, thank you.

That's enough pointing, thank you. reporting Scotland to Matt, the SNP

launch their manifesto. Our Kezia Dugdale and only called in the an

Kezia Dugdale our Kezia Dugdale and Jeremy Corbyn

at odds over this issue? Nine more sleeps to polling day. The final

manifestos are being launched, joined the battle lines for the big

boat ahead. Today, it was the SNP's turn.