The vote for free school meals to be extended over the Christmas holidays took place in the House of Commons on 23rd October and led to 322 MPs, all conservatives, voting against the extension, one of the MP’s being Vicky Ford, the Children’s Minister. In June 2020, 22-year-old footballer Marcus Rashford wrote a letter to MPs asking them to extended free school meals over the summer holidays, which they did, and outlined his experience on being on free school meals and importance of them. Due to the government's recent decision to not provide meals to children, Marcus Rashford has independently carried on with his scheme to provide meals. The general public quickly jumped to help Marcus with many small businesses all around the UK and some councils/boroughs vowing to provide meals over the October half term.
The government's decision brought a lot of things to light in the media. Not only did MPs recently receive a pay rise, but it also recently came to the light that they also receive a £25 daily allowance for food. This £25 a day leads to £1,300 a year per MP, ultimately leading to £845,000 per year for all MPs in parliament. On average, school lunches cost around £3 a day per child, what one MP can spend in a day for food could provide 8 children with school lunch. What all MPs can spend in a year on food can feed approximately 281,667 children with lunches.
Food is not a luxury; food is a necessity and no child should go hungry. The list of businesses and councils stepping forward to help is always being updated; thanks to Marcus Rashford and these businesses, many children will be fed during the half term.
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