England star urged to back meals plea

A GLASGOW councillor has written to Manchester United player Marcus Rashford in a bid to gain support for his free school meals plea.

As the Glasgow Times previously reported, Councillor Paul Carey has called on the Scottish Government to extend its free school meal service to all primary pupils.

Currently only youngsters in primary one to three are eligible for non- income based free lunches.

The Labour politician fears families facing financial problems caused by the Coronavirus pandemic will fall through the cracks as their income isn’t low enough to receive benefits.

Cllr Carey, who represents Drumchapel/ Anniesland, praised the 22- year- old athlete for his work to extend the free school meal scheme in England into the summer holidays, as well as partnering with charity FareShare to raise cash to ensure children would not go without a lunch during the school closures.

He added: “After [ primary three], only parents that are on benefits will qualify, but there is great number of the working class poor that are earning just a few pounds over the threshold that don’t qualify.

“These are the people that need the help – in most cases either both parents work a few jobs to make ends meet or, in most cases, it is single parents that have two or three jobs just to survive.

“That is the reason I now believe that all kids throughout general schooling should automatically have the right to a healthy meal every day.”

The famous football team has passed the message on to its forward and the councillor hopes he will give his seal of approval to the plight.

The Scottish Government said it was “committed” to improving the wellbeing of school pupils.