London CNN —London’s mayor has announced an emergency program to provide free meals for all children attending state primary schools in the capital, adding to a string of fresh evidence that Brits are struggling to afford necessities. “The cost-of-living crisis means families and children across our city are in desperate need of additional support,” Sadiq Khan, who himself received free school meals as a child, said in a statement Monday. A quarter of all London pupils, including those in high school, already qualify for free school meals according to national criteria largely based on household income, according to official data. This number tallies with an estimate by the Child Poverty Action Group that about 210,000 children living in poverty in London don’t qualify for free school meals because the eligibility criteria are “so restrictive.”Children eat lunch at St Mary's RC Primary School in Battersea, south London, on November 29, 2022. Daniel Leal/AFP/Getty Images/FILEThere was further evidence Monday that more and more Brits are struggling to afford food and electricity as inflation, which is near its highest level in four decades, erodes wages and welfare payments.

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