Don’t take £20 away from the poorest families
Rashford hits out at cruel move Warns millions will lose lifeline’
MARCUS Rashford is urging Boris Johnson not to axe the £20-a-week Universal Credit uplift.
The England and Manchester United forward warned: “Instead of removing vital support, we should be focusing on developing a long-term roadmap out of this child hunger pandemic.”
Campaigner Marcus, 23, who last year forced PM Boris Johnson into a U-turn on free school meals, added: “On October 6, millions lose a lifeline. It’s a move that Child Poverty Action Group says will raise child poverty to one in three.”
Almost eight in 10 on UC will find it harder to feed their kids when £80 a month worse off under the cut, a poll by the The Food Foundation charity found.
It has teamed up with Marcus to urge people to write to MPS.
They want the Government to adopt recommendations to prevent child hunger, dismissed by Mr Johnson. These would mean more qualifying for free school meals, long-term funding for holiday programmes and boosting “healthy start” support for pregnant women and under-fives.
Anna Taylor of the Food Foundation added: “We’re in danger of pushing the poorest to breaking point. Many won’t be able to put food on the table.”
Single-parent pressure group Gingerbread predicts a million mums and dads will suffer. CEO Victoria Benson said: “The Government appears intent on removing a lifeline for vulnerable families.”
Some five million households are on UC. The temporary uplift was announced in March last year as the first lockdown began. Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Jonathan Reynolds calls the cut a “catastrophe”.
feedback@people.co.uk Visit Marcus’s campaign at endchildfoodpoverty.org/ write-now and follow the steps to write to your local MP
Voice of the People: Page 14