Debate contribution: Cost-of-living Increase: Impact

Debate contribution by Mr Jon Burrows on 17 November 2025.

MLA

Mr Jon Burrows

Party at the time

Ulster Unionist Party

Date

17 November 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Cost-of-living Increase: Impact

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5245913

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. It is a pleasure to make a winding-up speech on the amendment. I will say at the outset that it is refreshing to be discussing issues that really are kitchen-table politics — issues that are directly relevant to our constituents up and down the country. As my colleague who proposed the amendment said, it really strengthens the motion and is a constructive amendment. I begin by making a couple of points about the rate of inflation. Inflation is one of those things that is of great interest to economists, but the figure of 3·8% is, of course, in many ways irrelevant to those who are in the real economy, because inflation affects different people in different ways. Food inflation, as my colleague Ms Diana Armstrong said, is actually running at 11%, and over the past four years, it has been 37%. It far outstrips the overall rate of aggregate inflation — and that is what really hits working families most. You will hear from people when they go to do their shop: they know that the things that they put in their trolley have got so much more expensive. That hits working families because, first, they have more mouths to feed — hungry children and teenagers playing sport — and second, because it is a non-discretionary spend. The inflation rate also includes other things, like new cars or holidays and all kinds of other things. They are often discretionary, but the food increase is non-discretionary. That is why the amendment is right to link food security and school meals to the motion. I will come on to school meals, because we have opposed the 20% increase in school meal costs. That increase outstrips inflation. Yes, there has not been an increase since 2017. The difficulty with that is that it will make it more difficult for parents to manage the jump. In hindsight, if you are going to do it, it would be better to spread the increase incrementally year by year and achieve the 20% at the end of that period, as opposed to holding off and jumping by 20%. It will potentially be the straw that breaks the camel's back. Food prices have increased, and that puts pressure on the cost of producing school meals. I accept that. One of the things that we as a party have been very clear about is that the price of school meals should be the last thing that is increased. There are savings to be had in how procurement is done. Ask any schoolteacher and they will tell you that it is cheaper to go out and buy printer paper directly than to get it through procurement. Those are ways in which you can save money, if they are done properly, as opposed to front-loading the cost on to schools. My colleagues and many others — I will not summarise what everyone else said — were quite right to say that school meals are critical, particularly for those whose families can just about afford them and who are ineligible for free school meals, because, with the rise in food prices, they are guaranteed to get that square meal. It is therefore vital that we do not increase the price. That is why we have also called for the threshold for eligibility for free school meals to rise. The last time that it rose, it rose by £390. However, that figure, and what families can afford, is more than wiped out by the increase in inflation.

I will give way.

Yes, that really compounds it. To make the point really clearly, the threshold to qualify for free school meals was an income of up to £15,000. It then went up to £15,390, which reflects about a 3% rise in inflation. However, the real inflation felt by working families who have children and have to pay those non-discretionary inflationary rates that run at 11% a year wipes out —.

I will give way very briefly.

That is a valid point. There is consensus emerging that the increase in school meal prices should be reviewed. There is a side issue that I will not explore in detail now, but it is the fact that there is a lot of wastage in school meals at primary-school level, because schools have insufficient ability to tailor the menu to the needs of the children. The menu is overly prescriptive. I did a little bit of touring around different schools, and, from the figures, I found that there is up to 40% wastage in primary-school meals. The catering department says, "Look, we know what the children will eat, and we are unable to tailor the offering". Why is that relevant? It is relevant because, if you were running a commercial setting and people were not eating half the food that you were supplying, you certainly would not get away with increasing the price. Food banks are a significant feature in our society. I used to volunteer at one before I came to this place, and it was a heartbreaking experience to see people wait for a delivery of food so that they could feed their children. One of the particular difficulties, of course, is —.

I will. I commend the amendment. It strengthens the motion and is constructive, and I encourage Members to support it.

892 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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