Free school meals aren't just about feeding hungry children—they're about access to education, children's ability to concentrate in lessons, and ensuring well-being, health and attainment. The pandemic we're all living through has forced us to confront many injustices so ingrained in our society they've come to appear endemic. A third of Welsh children are living in poverty, and as the Child Poverty Action Group has calculated, more than half of them don't qualify for free school meals because of flaws in the eligibility criteria and the callousness of means testing. That is an injustice heaped upon an injustice—children living below the poverty line who still don't qualify for support. Our motion as set out would correct this by extending the eligibility to all children from families who receive universal credit, or who have no recourse to public funds. Crucially, we would do this as a first step towards providing universal free school meals, to learn the lessons from nations like Finland and ensure that the shameful scourge of children too hungry to learn is abolished forever.

Because school meals don't begin and end with the meal. They create shared experiences, they forge bonds, stop stigma and shame. They lessen stress for children and families and advance children's emotional and physical development. Children who go hungry are more likely to suffer with chronic illnesses, anxiety and depression, and they're more likely to go on to suffer from diseases like cancer, diabetes and heart disease. That is the impact that debilitating hunger has.

Of course, free school meals have been high on the agenda across the UK recently because of the English Government's stubbornness about providing meals outside of term. In those Westminster debates, some Conservative MPs showed the ugliest side of their politics. One MP said he didn't believe in nationalising children, as though taking the basic step of ensuring no child goes hungry was the equivalent of Red Guards at the door.

Cadeirydd, it used to be possible to send children to work as chimney sweeps. It used to be possible to send children to work underground. That was only stopped through legislation starting with the mines Act in 1842, which meant only boys older than 10 could work in the mines. It seems barbaric to us now, but it was an important step. I wonder, when future generations look back at us, how barbaric it will seem to them that we allow children to attend classes with empty stomachs. That 1842 Act has meant that, since the mid nineteenth century, the state has accepted a responsibility over the welfare of children. It is a small step from that to accepting that Government has a duty to prevent child hunger. Cadeirydd, there are many areas in politics where parties will disagree—trade, taxation, targets. But there is a baseline of decency, or there should be. There should be a bar below which we should not ever sink. Ensuring every child is cradled with support and compassion and is fed should be far above that bar. Anyone who disagrees should examine their conscience.

There was an important exchange, referred to already, during yesterday's First Minister's questions, when the First Minister referred to a pamphlet from the 1940s about school meals, and it was called, 'And they shall have flowers on the table'. That evocative title strikes at the heart of this debate. School meals shouldn't be about providing the bare minimum. They should never be the source of stigma or shame. They should be the gateway to healthy lives, an eagerness to engage with school and a happiness that shouldn't be a luxury for the children whose families can afford it. Just as eligibility for free meals opens up other services like help with uniforms, music lessons and school trips, we should also see school meals as a means of helping children gain formative and valuable experiences.

Cadeirydd, the debate around free school meals has become totemic because it speaks to the values we as a society place on our children's lives. It's not simply a debate about economics. It's about the importance of joy, compassion and providing young people with hope. No injustice can ever be beyond remedy. We must forge a society where our children are fed, where they shall have flowers on the table and where they shall have reason to find joy.