Schools may have to open earlier to accomodate the plan

Theresa May will promise today to scrap free school lunches for infants and replace them with free school breakfasts for all primary children.

The change would be introduced in stages, potentially from September, and would save about £650 million a year that is now spent on a hot lunch for all five, six and seven-year-olds.

Primary school children from low-income families would still get free school lunches, as well as breakfasts.

The savings would be used to boost school funding by £4 billion above present spending plans. The Tories said that this would mean a real-terms increase in the schools budget between now and 2022 with no school having its budget cut in cash terms because of the new national funding formula. Schools could still