As the autumn Party Conference season comes to a close, Magic Breakfast takes a moment to reflect on the season and gear up for the pivotal year ahead.
Every autumn, the UK’s major political parties gather for their annual conferences, providing a key moment for reflection on the past political year and to set out their plans and agenda for the year ahead. Conferences offer a platform to share key policy recommendations and champion the voices of the children and young people we work with. By meeting with Members of Parliament (MPs), Members of Scottish Parliament (MSPs), and Ministers, as well as engaging in smaller ‘fringe’ events, and hosting exhibition stands, Magic Breakfast uses conference season as an opportunity to drive change and advance our mission.
Breakfast Powers Opportunity: Strengthening the UK Government’s breakfast policy
This year, we returned to Liverpool for the Labour Party’s annual conference, where we hosted an exhibition stand showcasing our Breakfast Powers Opportunity campaign. We celebrated the progress made by the UK Government towards delivering on its manifesto commitment to provide free school breakfast clubs for primary-aged pupils in England, while also highlighting how the policy could be strengthened to ensure it reaches all children who need it. We called on the Government to implement our three key recommendations ahead of the autumn budget on 26 November 2025:
1. Strengthen and clarify the guidance being produced by the Department for Education to help increase uptake and support the forthcoming national rollout of breakfast clubs next year: Clarifying the guidance including simplifying access to the funding mechanisms will help schools to effectively engage vulnerable pupils and overcome barriers to access to deliver high-quality, inclusive, flexible, and enriching breakfast clubs that will drive uptake and participation for all children.
2. Extend the breakfast club policy to include secondary-aged pupils with SEND in special schools, costing just £14.06 million over the next 3 years: Many special schools are all-through schools where children of all ages are often grouped together according to need rather than age. Extending the policy to include these older pupils will prevent schools from having to make the unacceptable choice between excluding some children from free breakfast provision based on their age, or stretching their already tight budgets to support those children left out of the national programme.
3. Take urgent action to prevent the funding cliff edge for secondary schools supported by the National School Breakfast Programme (NSBP): The NSBP currently supports around 900 secondary schools in areas of high disadvantage across England with a free and nutritious breakfast every school day. With funding for this vital programme set to end in July 2026, thousands of children risk losing access to this crucial service.
Breakfast Can’t Wait: Building towards universalism in Scotland
Our team also returned to Aberdeen for the Scottish National Party’s annual national conference, where we hosted an exhibition stand for the very first time. Centred around our Breakfast Can’t Wait campaign and our key asks ahead of the Scottish Parliament Election in May 2026, our stand celebrated the launch of the Scottish Government’s Bright Start Breakfasts Fund, while calling on the Government to advance further towards universal breakfast provision.
We welcomed First Minister John Swinney MSP, Scottish Government Ministers, and other SNP MSPs to our stand where we discussed how school breakfast can help break barriers to opportunities for young Scots. We also shared our key recommendations to help make the Scottish Government’s commitment to school breakfasts a reality and deliver universal school breakfasts from the start of school in P1 all the way to the end of secondary in S6.
Working across politics
Magic Breakfast staff also attended the other party conferences including joining the Green Party in Bristol, the Liberal Democrats in Brighton, and our Chief Executive – Dr Lindsey MacDonald – joining a fringe event in Manchester with our partners at the People’s Postcode Lottery and Bright Blue at the Conservative Party Conference to talk about the relationship between charities and the state when it comes to advocacy, funding and service provision. Through our engagement with all parties across the political spectrum, we are able to build support for our work, ensuring every child can receive a nourishing school breakfast to start their day ready to learn.
Looking ahead
This year’s party conference season sets the stage for a pivotal year ahead, including the autumn budget in November and the 2026 Scottish Parliament election. Across all parties, there is a growing recognition that hunger is a barrier to learning, and targeted interventions such as school breakfast can help overcome this barrier and enable every child to start their day nourished, empowered and thriving, ready to reach their full potential. Our teams will continue to work across the UK to deliver our mission and ensure no child is too hungry to learn.
