Support for Universal Free School Meals unites Labour’s fracturing coalition – and the wider public

• Two-thirds (65 per cent) of people in England support extending free school meals to all primary school children, outnumbering opponents by four to one (15 per cent oppose).
• The policy unites Labour’s fragmented 2024 coalition: 83 per cent of Labour loyalists, 84 per cent of those who have since switched to parties on the left, and 67 per cent of those who have switched to parties on the right, all back the policy.
• Concern about child poverty is the single biggest reason people give for backing the policy (37 per cent), alongside easing the cost of living (33 per cent) and treating all children equally (33 per cent).
• Cost remains a major driver of opposition: three in ten (29 per cent) say the country cannot afford the policy, and affordability is the leading reason given by the 15 per cent who oppose it overall.

Support for universal free school meals cuts across many of Britain’s divides

Two thirds (65 per cent) of English adults support the policy – including 40 per cent who support it strongly – while just 15 per cent oppose, and only 7 percent oppose strongly. This means support outweighs opposition by four to one.

• Support is strongest among parents: over 8 in 10 (82 per cent) parents to children under the age of 18 back the policy. However, this support is not exclusive to those with children – while a clear majority (63 per cent) of non-parents are in favour. 
• Support is strong among those struggling the most financially in England: three quarters (74 per cent) of those who cannot or can only just afford their costs support the policy, while just 9 per cent oppose. 

Support is not limited to those who stand to gain from it directly. A majority of people without children (63 per cent) and of those who describe themselves as financially comfortable (66 per cent) back the policy, at levels close to the national average.

Support cuts across the Seven Segments

More in Common’s Seven Segments model divides the British public by underlying values and worldview rather than demographics or voting history.

Support for free school meals holds at 6 in 10 or higher across six of the seven segments, spanning groups with very different political outlooks and levels of trust in institutions.

• Traditional Conservatives are the only segment where the policy falls short of majority support, and even there the margin is narrow: 34 per cent in favour against 38 per cent opposed.

A policy that unites Labour’s fracturing voter base

Labour is losing support at both ends of its 2024 coalition – as left-leaning Progressive Activists defect to the Green Party, and “Red Wall” Rooted Patriots move toward Reform UK.

• Free school meals cuts across Labour’s fragmenting voter base: 82 per cent of Progressive Activists support the policy of extending free school meals  (7 per cent oppose), and 64 per cent of Rooted Patriots support it too (18 per cent oppose).
• The policy unites Labour’s loyalists and switchers. Labour loyalists (those who voted Labour in 2024 and would still do so today) back the policy at 83 per cent, those who’ve switched to parties on the left at 84 per cent, and those who’ve switched to parties on the right at 67 per cent – meaning free school meals may be an issue that commands strong support whichever direction voters have since moved.

Why Britons support free school meals

From polling and focus groups, it is clear that there is a widespread desire across politics for bold action to tackle child poverty. Beyond this, the policy of free school meals also appeals to voters of different political views for different reasons.

• • Tackling child poverty – the single biggest reason people give for supporting the policy (37 per cent), ahead of easing the cost of living for families (33 per cent) and ensuring all children are treated equally (33 per cent). These reasons hold at similar levels among Labour, Conservative and Reform UK supporters.

• Helping working families – during the cost of living crisis, many people who are working hard and ‘doing the right thing’ feel as though they’re not the recipients of government benefits. Universalism of free school meals means that the ‘squeezed’ middle of Britain isn’t unfairly penalised.

“Yeah, because even the parents that are working full-time, they’re still struggling as well. They’re paying all their bills, council, tax, everything. Do you know what I mean? So they’re just paying everything out and they do struggle. They do struggle to feed their children. It’s hard.”Seema, 51, Stay-at-home mum, Labour to Reform, Midlands 

“Punishing the child for the parents working. The parents can be working and them kids could still not be getting fed”. Susan, Construction Worker, Labour to Reform switcher, Yorkshire

• Investing in children’s futures – seen across the political spectrum as both a practical measure (supporting concentration and behaviour in the classroom) and a longer-term investment in the country’s economic and social future.
• A shared experience – participants in focus groups valued all children eating the same food at the same table, seeing it as a way of reducing visible class and income divides among children and connecting them with a wider vision of society.

“The fact that children can eat together, I think it’s a very important stage of kids’ lives. It’s a place where they’re doing a lot of the learning, even though it’s not in lessons, it’s in the lunch halls. And for the social aspect, remember these kids have endured COVID, so they’ve lost a lot of this time being able to just be in a lunch hall. So yeah, I think kids should definitely be able to eat together and learn together”. Justin, 30, IT worker, Labour loyalist, Northwest England 

• Dignity – universal provision was seen to remove the stigma associated with being identified as a free school meals recipient, which several participants linked to memories of bullying or exclusion.
• Fairness and duty (stronger among Labour-inclined voters) – the view that all children deserve the same start in life, and that the government has a responsibility to provide for them regardless of cost pressures elsewhere.

“There are a whole lot of things that need funding, but if you were to say ‘okay, well, where would you rank these things?’ I would rank this [free school meals] as very high in importance against some of them, even though the NHS is obviously crucial, other things of importance and stuff, but you look at this and you just say, yeah, that’s a no-brainer”. Colin, 52, IT manager, Labour loyalist, Northwest England 

• British decency (stronger among right-leaning voters) – the sense that in a wealthy country, no child should go hungry, and that this reflects a basic standard the country should meet.

 “It’s upsetting, isn’t it? When you think you’re living in a first world country that there’s children that are hungry, that can’t learn, that means they’re not going to be able to access education to the best level that they can, which will then go on to have long-term consequences(…) we shouldn’t have to be struggling for food in this country.” Sabeena, 48, Office admin, Labour to Reform, Midlands

“This isn’t the kind of country where we should worry about children being hungry”.Nicola, 29, Estate agent, Labour to Reform, Midlands