This morning, Manchester United star Marcus Rashford returned to BBC Breakfast to provide an update on his campaign to ensure no child goes hungry.
Earlier in the year, Rashford forced a U-turn by the UK Government in providing free school meals over the summer, after it was revealed there were plans to provide no food vouchers at a particularly difficult time. Since then, more than a million children have claimed free meal vouchers over the break, which ends for most today.
Having claimed free school meals himself, Rashford was a vocal proponent for providing free school meals across summer.
But having had success earlier in the year, Rashford says it was just a “short-term solution” to prevent hunger, but clearly wouldn’t have a long-term effect. In response, he’s written to MPs about families he feels still need support.
Rashford has also created a taskforce with food brands – including Asda, Co-op, Deliveroo, Kellogg’s, Sainsburys and Waitrose – to back proposals from the National Food Strategy. The taskforce is calling on the government to expand free school meals to every child from a household on Universal Credit; expand holiday food and activity programmes to reach all those on free meals; and increase the value of the Healthy Start vouchers from £3.10 to £4.25 a week and also expand their reach.
Speaking to Sally Nugent on Breakfast, Rashford said: “We had to think about the best way to do it, to think about how these families can eat long term and not have any issues.
“I believe that we can actually get things changed.”
Rashford has met with a number of the families supported this year by the extension of free school meals over summer. He said: “Just to see the smiles on their faces and to see how much it’s helped them, you know, made me happy. It was good to see the parents laughing and smiling.”
