LABOUR peer Angela Smith has vowed to do “whatever it takes” to keep a threatened hot meal service alive.

Basildon Council has been forced to cut £30,000 from its catering budget, meaning subsidised meals for elderly residents at day centres across the borough could be scrapped.

With only 84 hot lunches served each day across the George Hurd Centre, Laindon Day Centre, Pitsea Day Centre and Wickford Priority Club, the Tory administration decided spending £158,600 on the subsidised service was not “good value for money”.

But Baroness Smith of Basildon has now waded into the row and could now take her concerns to the House of Lords.

It comes as a number of catering staff at the council-run centres were offered voluntary redundancies.

Lady Smith said: “I will do whatever the members want me to, and if it helps raising the matter in the House of Lords then I will. This is just the start of me being involved.

“I think it’s a matter of priority and most people recognise it’s not just about the money. If the meals go, the staff will go and the centres will wind down and close in a few years.”

She visited the George Hurd Centre in Audley Way, Basildon, on Tuesday for a private meeting with members.

She said the subsidised lunches provide an affordable way for pensioners to socialise while enjoying a nutritious meal.

She added: “There are hundreds of elderly people across Basildon who go to these centres just to get out and about.

“I have visited these centres over the years and these are people who are enjoying life and getting the most they can out of it. They have made friends for the rest of their lives.

“Many of these people have worked hard all their life and deserve a duty of care.”

George Hurd committee chairman Brenda Steele MBE said: “Baroness Smith is all for us and she’s horrified by what is happening. It’s brilliant to have so much support.

"I feel like a decision has already been made so I don’t know if it will make a decision but I hope so. We will fight as much as we can.”

Tony Ball, leader of Basildon Council, insists an internal survey of the day centres found only 89 users attended solely for the hot meals.

He said: “If volunteers or members of the day centres themselves want to carry on the service themselves then that’s fine. We would be more than happy to support them how we can but financially it can’t carry on. This is a service which does not offer value for money to the tax payer.

“We absolutely still want the facilities to stay open. They serve a purpose as cultural and social centres for people of a certain age who want to mix together.”