PUPILS will be “going hungry” if free school lunches are axed, the executive chef of a Bolton school has warned.

Robert Alcock, of Bolton St Catherine’s Academy, has voiced fears over Conservative plans to abolish universal free school lunches for infants.

The Bolton News reported last week how 9,985 children across Bolton — including 1,835 living in poverty — could lose their free meal under the proposals, according to Liberal Democrat research.

A new survey carried out for the Soil Association’s Food for Life programme showed that 37 per cent of schools in England fear that their school meal service will close if the infants’ free school meals are slashed.

Mr Alcock said: “Young students will be going hungry and this will have an impact on student’s attainment.”

On a visit to Bolton last month, Theresa May said that free school breakfasts will instead be available for every child and that children from the poorest families would still get a breakfast and a lunch.

However, critics have said that there is a poor take-up of free school meal offers by families eligible for them due to a combination of an eligibility criteria that punished low-income, working families and the stigma associated with claiming them.

The new survey showed that 91 per cent of schools believe that pupil health and nutrition would be impacted by the potential withdrawal of free school meals for all infants.

Jamie Oliver, who has been campaigning to save infant free school meals, said: “There’s no replacing a cooked school lunch, it’s just not the same.”

He added: “It’s bad for kids, bad for local jobs, bad for local communities.”

The Lead Association for Catering in Education (LACA) said that 16,800 jobs in the catering sector could be lost because of the policy proposal.

The Labour Party has also spoken out against the plans this week.

Sir David Crausby, Labour’s candidate for Bolton North East, said: “What the Tories are offering shames our country. In the economic uncertainty many working families live in — largely due to the poverty wages endured by many in Bolton — it really beggars belief that the Tories could take away something that was making a real difference and supporting so many”

Sir David added: “In Bolton, Labour have campaigned and delivered on providing free schools meals - as well as being amongst the cheapest in the country. Locally Labour have built on this by providing funding for free breakfasts for all our primary school children in Bolton and the take up of and outcome of this funding has been excellent.”