The Scottish Greens have accused John Swinney of a “betrayal” after the Scottish Government paused plans to roll out free school meals to all primary school children.

In a scathing intervention at First Minister’s Questions, Lorna Slater said the people of Scotland could not take the SNP leader’s commitment to tackle child poverty seriously.

But the SNP leader told MSPs the previous UK government was to blame.

The ferocious criticism from Ms Slater suggests the Scottish Government may not be able to rely on the Scottish Greens to get their budget passed. 

The Holyrood arithmetic means they need the support of at least one other party. 

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Currently, all children in primary 1 to 5, at schools run by their local council or funded by the Scottish Government, can get free lunches during term time.

The SNP's 2021 manifesto included a promise to expand that to include all P6 and P7 pupils, and last year, the then first minister Humza Yousaf promised it would be rolled out by 2026.

It was also a key commitment in the Bute House Agreement, the coalition deal between the SNP and Scottish Greens.

(Image: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

However, in his Programme for Government – published on Wednesday – Mr Swinney said the administration would instead focus on those P6 and P7 pupils whose parents receive the Scottish Child Payment.

The move from a universal approach to a targeted approach came just 24 hours after his Finance Secretary announced £500 million worth of cuts to public services.

The Scottish Government have said they will continue with the rollout if additional funding is made available by the UK Government.

In her question, Ms Slater, the Green co-leader and a former Scottish Government minister, said: “The Scottish Greens champion free school meals, because we know getting food to hungry kids is a compassionate and effective way to mitigate the impacts of child poverty.

“Yet as soon as the Greens are out of the room, the Scottish Government drops the policy.

“Can the First Minister explain how we’re supposed to take seriously his commitment to tackle child poverty?”

The First Minister told his former ministerial colleague that inflation has eroded about 20% of the government’s budget in the last three years.

“We’re having to find about £800 million in this financial year to make public sector pay claims,” he added.

“Lorna Slater will know from her experience in Government that once the financial year starts, the Government cannot expand the resources available to us.

“We have a fixed sum of money available to us, once the financial year starts.

“All we can do is receive consequential funding from the UK Government which might expand that, or we can re-allocate resources within the budget.”

Ms Slater said it was not just free school meals that had been abandoned. Ms Slater said: “During our time in Government, the Scottish Greens scrapped peak rail fares.

“We introduced a groundbreaking fund to restore nature and create jobs across rural Scotland. We introduced legislation for a robust system of rent controls.

“We were on track to ban conversion practices and roll out free bus travel to asylum seekers.

“All this work is now being undone, slashed, watered down or shelved. And now the betrayal of free school meals. “

Meanwhile, Scottish Labour’s Anas Sarwar quizzed the First Minister on the NHS. He claimed Mr Swinney and his ministers had become “desensitised” to the waiting lists “crisis” in the NHS.

He raised the case of a man named Mark Rodgers, a former footballer who is in “unbearable pain” as he awaits surgery for prostate problems.

Mr Swinney said the Scottish Government is providing more NHS funding than was received through Westminster and steps are being taken to improve NHS capacity.

The First Minister said: “Can I reassure Mr Sarwar there is nobody in Government, certainly not me and certainly not the Health Secretary, who is desensitised to the scale of the challenge and we are very much focused on improving the performance of the NHS.”