England striker Rashford launches scheme to tackle child food poverty
MARCUS RASHFORD, the Manchester United and England striker, has joined forces with the UK’S leading supermarket chains to set up a task force to accelerate his campaign against child food poverty.
The 22-year-old, who forced the Government to reverse a decision to scrap free school meal vouchers during the summer holidays, has today written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and every MP issuing three recommendations for a national food strategy.
His letter is endorsed by the chief executives of Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Co-op, Asda, Fareshare, Food Foundation, Lidl, Iceland, Aldi, Deliveroo and Kelloggs, who have all joined him in the formation of the Child Food Poverty Task Force.
“The food industry will be standing side by side to shed light on the issue of child food poverty in the UK, an issue that is far greater than any one brand, one person or one supermarket,” Rashford wrote.
The task force is calling for the expansion of free school meals to every child from a household on Universal Credit or equivalent benefits which would reach an additional 1.5 million 7-16-year-olds.
It also wants an expansion of holiday provision (food and activities) to support all children on free school meals, reaching an additional 1.1 million youngsters.
The campaign would also see a £1.15 increase in the value of the Healthy Start vouchers to £4.25 per week, helping an extra 290,000 pregnant women and children under the age of four from households on benefits.
While achieving success in lobbying for the extension of free school meals for underprivileged pupils this summer, Rashford wants longer-term changes. “I have sat with parents who have cried with sheer relief that putting food on their children’s plates was one less thing to worry about this summer,” he said. “However, as summer and the voucher scheme comes to an end and we face increased unemployment, we have to work towards implementing a sustainable long-term framework to protect children most at risk from food poverty.”