Ed Miliband certainly isn’t one for holding back, is he? In an interview with today’s Guardian he discusses what we might expect from the Labour manifesto, and there’s some pretty noteworthy stuff in there: a People’s Bank based around the network of Post Offices; an increase in the minimum wage; a reduction in the voting age to 16; things like that.
But, as Sunder Katwala suggests over at Next Left, the most eye-catching passage is when Miliband discusses Free School Meals for all:
“The manifesto could well include a pledge to provide free school meals for all children, Miliband says. ‘I think a lot of people would like free school meals. It’s subject to affordability tests – but if you go around the country talking to people about this then they say it makes a big difference in terms of nutrition, it makes a big difference in terms of concentration in classrooms.
‘It speaks to another important thing: are you for a residual welfare state that is just for the poor, which is the Tory position, or are you for a more inclusive welfare state? What the Tories are saying about child trust funds, child tax credits and Sure Start – they’re saying, ‘let’s residualise, let’s make the welfare state just for the poor’ but [this goes against] all the evidence in terms of maintaining public support [for the welfare state].
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