Boris Johnson’s government has U-turned on providing school meals to children over the summer after Manchester United and England striker Marcus Rashford’s repeated calls.
An extra £120m will also be spent on vouchers for the 1.3 million children affected, a government spokesman announced at lunchtime.
“The PM fully understands the issue facing families across the UK during what is a difficult and unprecedented time”. said a Downing Street spokesman
“I don’t even know what to say”, tweeted Rashford adding “Just look at what we can do when we come together, THIS is England in 2020.”
Labour leader Sir Kier Starmer said:
“This is another welcome u-turn from Boris Johnson.The thought of 1.3 million children going hungry this summer was unimaginable.Well done to Marcus Rashford and many others who spoke out so powerfully about this issue.”
Helen Barnard, Acting Director of the independent Joseph Rowntree Foundation said:
“In responding to this campaign to make sure children don’t go hungry this summer, the government has rightly acknowledged growing public concern about the rising injustice of child poverty during the pandemic.
“Extending the voucher scheme into the summer will help ensure that we don’t see the hardship children are facing get worse in the summer holidays, but it only covers a minority of children in poverty and the pressures are much wider than just school meals. We are already soaring numbers of families being pulled under and having to rely on foodbanks to get through the current crisis, even with the voucher scheme in place.
“Providing an urgent uplift of £20 per week to families with children claiming Universal Credit or Child Tax Credits would ease the pressures and give families vital support in turbulent times, especially where parents have lost work as a result of the pandemic. The tragedy of this pandemic must not be compounded by rising child poverty.
