Marcus Rashford today declared he ‘refuses to give up’ after Boris Johnson rejected his plea to extend free school meals for 1.3million vulnerable children through the six-week summer holidays telling fans: ‘We aren’t beaten yet’.
The Manchester United star and England star, 22, who has been backed by a string of Tory and Labour MPs and Gary Lineker, said that changing the Prime Minister’s mind is the ‘trophy’ he wants this summer with the hashtag #maketheuturn trending on Twitter this morning.
He said: ‘I refuse to give up. Wembley Stadium could be filled twice with children who have had to skip meals during lockdown due to their families not being able to access food’.
He also wrote in The Times: ‘Today I focus on a trophy that stands for something much bigger than football.
‘A U-turn on the decision to stop the free food voucher scheme continuing over the summer holidays could help us reach the next round but we still have a very long way to go as a country to eventually lift the trophy. In this case, the trophy is combating child poverty.’
But the Government is refusing to budge with Transport Secretary Grant Shapps insisting they have been ‘wrapping its arms around the community’ via the furlough scheme and payments to local government bodies instead. But there are growing numbers of backbench Tories who believe Boris Johnson should change the policy immediately.
Marcus Rashford had hoped his letter would help persuade the Government to continue providing free school meals for children but Boris Johnson has rejected his plea. He now wants a u-turn
The England star insists: ‘We are not beaten yet’ as he continues his campaign
Speaking on BBC Breakfast on Tuesday, he said: ‘It is usually the case that over the summer holidays, free school meals are not available, schools are not there.
‘But we have actually, unusually in this case, along with the other multi-billion pound package we have put in place to help families, also provided £63 million to help local authorities help children over this period as well, so there has been additional support, and of course no-one would want otherwise.’
He added the Government has also invested £129 million ‘that’s already gone to families and schools as part of the process of helping children,’ and nearly £20 billion on the furlough scheme.
Mr Shapps said: ‘We have been helping the parents to ensure that people don’t fall out of work in numbers, which certainly would have been the case had it not been for this enormous Government support.
‘It’s been like the Government wrapping its arms around people in communities to try to do everything that we possibly can.’
Gary Lineker appeared on BBC Newsnight last night and he urged the Government to consider the struggles of impoverished families during the coronavirus crisis.
‘Obviously these are strange times. Kids wouldn’t ordinarily be fed during the summer holidays, I understand that. But you’ve got to look at it and go ‘These are very, very difficult times for a lot of people and a lot of families’,’ the former England striker and Match of the Day presenter said.
‘There are a lot of young people, young children, in this country that are going hungry. And in a country like ours, a country of quite substantial wealth, that seems to be largely unacceptable.
‘Hopefully the powers that be will listen. It seems strange that we have to be in a position where we are desperately arguing to try to get young people fed, and stop them being hungry.’
He continued his plea for change in a series of tweets this morning with the hashtag #maketheuturn trending on Twitter this morning
Mr Lineker also praised Mr Rashford, saying: ‘When you look at it, though, he’s a 22 year old footballer. He shouldn’t be the one having to do this. But the fact that he is, is important. It’s impressive. He’s a very fine young man, and he’s a credit to his sport and his family.’
The 22-year-old has followed up with a column in The Times newspaper on Tuesday, addressing the meal voucher issue and the broader subject of childhood poverty.
‘I don’t claim to have the education of an MP in parliament, but I do have a social education,’ Mr Rashford wrote.
‘I am clued up on the difference a U-turn decision would make on the 1.3 million vulnerable children across the UK who are registered for free school meals because ten years ago I was one of them.’
But Boris Johnson has rejected a plea from footballer Marcus Rashford to extend free school meals for 1.3million children for six weeks through the summer holidays, it was revealed yesterday.
The Prime Minister will instead write to the Manchester United and England striker about what the Government is doing to make sure vulnerable children do not go hungry.
Mr Rashford, 22, has helped to supply three million meals, raising around £20million along with charity FareShare during lockdown.
He has petitioned the Government to continue providing free meals for children during the school holidays and told BBC Breakfast this morning: ‘It’s written from the heart and it’s about how my life was at the moment – the letter is to open up and let people understand the impact on families and to know I’ve done the right thing’.
Marcus and his four siblings were all on free school meals while growing up.
He added: ‘What families are going through now, I’ve once had to go through that – and it’s very difficult to find a way out. It’s very important for me to help people who are struggling. Whether the outcome changes or doesn’t change – that’s why I wrote it.’
But barring a U-turn from the Prime Minister his plea has not worked. A Department for Education spokesman said: ‘Free schools meals are ordinarily term time only, and the national voucher scheme will not run during the summer holidays.’
Gary Lineker has now joined footballer Marcus Rashford in calls for the Government to extend its free school meal voucher scheme through the summer holidays
Rashford’s mum Melanie persuaded United to allow him into their academy a year early because she was struggling to feed her five children
‘Thousands of children will also receive additional support through our Holiday Activities and Food programme, which offers activities and free meals throughout the summer holidays,’ they added.
Marcus, pictured as a little boy, and his four siblings were all on free school meals while growing up
Boris Johnson will instead reply to the footballer by letter, Number 10 has said.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘The PM will respond to Marcus Rashford’s letter as soon as he can – he has been using his profile in a positive way to highlight some very important issues.’
A food voucher scheme was set up to make sure children on free school meals would be fed during lockdown after schools shut in March.
Vouchers worth £15 were given to families each week in supermarkets.
But the scheme is set to end next month. In a letter to the House of Commons, the Manchester United forward wrote: ‘Political affiliations aside, can we not all agree that no child should be going to bed hungry?
‘The Government has taken a ‘Whatever it takes’ approach to the economy – I’m asking you today to extend that same thinking to protecting all vulnerable children across England.
‘I encourage you to hear their pleas and find your humanity. Please reconsider your decision to cancel the food voucher scheme over the summer holiday period and guarantee the extension. This is England in 2020, and this is an issue that needs urgent assistance.
‘Please, while the eyes of the nation are on you, make the U-turn and make protecting the lives of some of our most vulnerable a top priority.’
As the coronavirus crisis hit, Marcus Rashford felt obligated to do something to help the young and potentially vulnerable children who may begin to suffer without free school meals
England international Rashford penned a powerful letter to the Government on Sunday
He urged the Government to provide free meals for vulnerable children during school holidays
Rashford relied on breakfast clubs and free school meals while growing up in Manchester. He wrote: ‘As a black man from a low-income family… I could have been just another statistic.
‘I would be doing myself, my family and my community an injustice if I didn’t stand here today with my voice and my platform and ask you for help.’
The 22-year-old’s open letter has received support from education leaders and teachers’ unions
Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, the country’s biggest teachers’ union, said the union ‘fully supports’ Rashford’s demand to provide free school meals over the summer.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: ‘If the Government is genuinely committed to social equity, it must extend the provision of free school meals to continue during the summer holidays.
‘Disadvantaged families are likely to have been hardest hit by the coronavirus crisis, and the very least we can do as a society is ensure that children from these backgrounds have something to eat.’
Former education secretary Justine Greening also backed the footballer’s demands. She said: ‘I know from my experience that there are lots of difficult decisions for ministers to take – this is an easy one.’
Rashford, who has raised £20 million to boost food distribution with the charity FareShare, has admitted to using food banks and receiving free meals as a child.
He said he wants to help the families that need it the most, knowing how it felt to go hungry.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, added: ‘Holiday hunger has always been a great concern for school leaders and this summer is likely to be especially challenging for many low-income families given the impact of lockdown on finances.
‘We agree with Marcus Rashford that the Government must not let children go hungry over the summer and should provide funding to extend free school meals.’
Rashford benefited from the free school meals system while growing up, dreaming of football. Here he is pictured posing in a Manchester United shirt, the club he has always supported
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: ‘The Prime Minister understands the issues facing families across the UK which is why last week the Government announced an additional £63 million for local authorities to benefit families who are struggling to afford food and other basic essentials.
‘The PM also set out that as schools open more widely and their kitchens reopen, we expect them to make food parcels available for collection or delivery for any children that are eligible for free school meals who are not yet able to return to schools.
‘Where that is not possible, schools can continue to offer vouchers to eligible pupils.’
A Department for Education spokesperson said: ‘Free schools meals are ordinarily term time only, and the national voucher scheme will not run during the summer holidays.’
‘Thousands of children will also receive additional support through our Holiday Activities and Food programme, which offers activities and free meals throughout the summer holidays,’ they added.
Meanwhile, the Labour Party say they will today use an opposition day debate in Parliament to call on the Government to continue to directly fund the provision of free school meals over the holidays.
Labour launched a Holidays Without Hunger campaign on Sunday.
Shadow education secretary Rebecca Long Bailey will say: ‘Any government that is willing to let the poorest children in the country go hungry needs to take a long hard look at its priorities.
‘Shamefully, children go hungry every year, but this summer will be especially difficult for many families as job losses and reduced incomes hit household budgets.
‘It would be deeply callous of the government not to take this small step to ease the financial pressure on households and ensure children can eat during the summer holidays.’
Former Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw added his name to the cause, saying the Government ‘should be bending on this one’ and that Mr Rashford was ‘absolutely right to draw attention to this’.
‘I know lots of head teachers who are so worried about their children who are on free school meals, their poorest children, who have lost out the most during this crisis,’ Sir Michael told Newsnight.
‘Those head teachers are going to bringing those children in over the summer break, they’re going to be inviting their staff into school over the summer break to teach them, to make sure they don’t lose out any more.
‘Now if they’re going to be doing that, and those children are going to be coming into school over the summer break, to catch up, they need food.’