Footballer Marcus Rashford’s Campaign to Extend Free School Meals Shames Government

SCHOOL DINNERS - the government continues to dig in against s into the half-term, Christmas and Easter holidays. “Huge credit to him” for his campaign, Lewis said (not all that convincingly) while repeating the government line that previous action — increases to Universal Credit welfare payments and £63 million to councils to support families — was already doing the job. Labour Leader Keir Starmer tweeted that Labour will force another vote on the issue “if the government does not change course before the Christmas break.”

Meanwhile, senior Tory MP Bernard Jenkin told Sky’s Sophy Ridge it was time for the party to “admit we’ve misunderstood the mood of the country” on this one. Children’s Commissioner for England Anne Longfield said she had been “horrified” by the debate of recent days which she likened to something out of “Oliver Twist.” “We all have to agree now … there’s a problem with children going hungry in this country.”

It comes amid mounting pressure on the Tory government to U-turn. On Sunday, 2200 paediatricians signed an open letter to Boris Johnson, urging him to follow Scotland's lead in providing free school meals over the coming holidays, with Professor Russell Viner, President of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, warning "I've rarely seen such anger among our members".

Image: Marcus Rashford.

Separately, Children's Commissioner for England Anne Longfield told Sky News: "I've been horrified by the debate... We're a wealthy country, it's 2020, and to have a debate about whether we should make sure that hungry and vulnerable children should have enough to eat is something, which is strikingly similar to what we would expect to see in Oliver Twist..."

Image: Children's Commissioner for England Anne Longfield. 

Image: Oliver Twist.

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