MP for Ilford North Wes Streeting said it is a moral outrage that children are arriving at school too hungry to learn.

Ilford Recorder: Children do better when they eat breakfast says the Ilford North MP. Picture: PAChildren do better when they eat breakfast says the Ilford North MP. Picture: PA (Image: PA Archive/PA Images)

Mr Streeting said hundreds of thousands of pupils across the UK do not eat breakfast due to their families' financial situation and the government must act swiftly to end this.

"As one of the few MPs who benefited from free school meals, I understand better than most the impact of that policy, but school lunches aren't enough," he wrote in the House of Commons magazine.

"Today, hundreds of thousands of children across the UK will arrive at school too hungry to learn.

"In August, the Daily Mirror reported that some UK schoolchildren are so hungry they are scavenging in bins, crying because of hunger, and being bribed by criminal gangs in exchange for food.

"One boy was reported to have been so hungry that he began eating loo paper to make his 'tummy pain go away'.

"It is a moral outrage that blights the lives of millions of children across our nation, and it is an injustice Labour must work swiftly to end."

Mr Streeting said that the introduction of free school breakfasts for every child would ensure that no child arrives at school too hungry to learn.

He added: "Before I entered Parliament, I was proud to work for Magic Breakfast, a fantastic national charity that provides nutritious breakfasts to schools in communities with high levels of deprivation, including schools in my constituency.

"The National School Breakfast Programme, which Magic Breakfast campaigned for, is currently feeding over 280,000 children in over 1,700 schools each morning.

"But there are still too many children falling through the gaps and the programme is currently due to end in March 2020."

The MP said the benefits to pupils' education and health are well-evidenced.

He cited The Education and Endowment Foundation and Institute for Fiscal Studies research which found that schools supported by Magic Breakfast clubs made an additional two months' academic progress in a year.

"Teachers report improved behaviour, attendance, energy levels, concentration, punctuality and attendance," he added.

"Skipping breakfast is also associated with childhood obesity.

"There are also benefits for parents in having breakfast club provision available in schools, particularly for those who struggle to complete the school run and commute to work in time for 9am."

Mr Streeting said that Hammersmith and Fulham Council is already trialling free school meals for all pupils and the Welsh Labour government implemented free school breakfasts in 2004.

He advised that a future Labour government must follow their example and implement free breakfasts on a nationwide basis, alongside investment to tackle low-pay and child poverty outside the school gates.

"Making breakfast freely available to all children would have the added benefit of being simple, straightforward and free from stigma.

"It could be paid for through contributions from the Soft Drinks Industry Levy and by removing the VAT exemptions and charitable status from private schools.

"There is simply no good reason why schools that educate the privileged few should be subsidised through tax breaks at the expense of the many. "

"Eliminating child poverty and hunger will be a priority for the next Labour government - our brilliant shadow education Secretary, Angela Rayner, has made clear commitments on free school lunches - and I hope that in our next manifesto we're able to go even further by making free breakfasts part of our programme to tackle child poverty and educational inequality."