Barbara will today join MPs from across Parliament in calling on the Government to extend free school meals across the school holidays, helping 4,323 children in Worsley and Eccles South.

With Greater Manchester put into Tier 3 restrictions this week, many people now face financial uncertainty over the coming months as their workplace is either forced to close or will see business vanish. This puts children who receive free schools meals at a real risk of going hungry over the school holidays.

This campaign, which is supported by Marcus Rashford and the Labour Party, is calling on the Government to step in and fund free school meals as they did over the Summer holiday. Rather than take this opportunity to reduce child hunger, the Government have instead chosen to dismiss the request out of hand.

Labour had previously given Boris Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak 72 hours to change their position and provide this support. With the deadline expired, the Party is forcing a Commons vote on the issue.

Across the country, over 1 million children are at risk of going hungry over the holidays as the government withdraws support for the provision of free school meals, including over 4,000 in Worsley and Eccles South. The October half term comes as millions of families face a furlough cliff-edge that could see jobs across the country at risk, at the same time as millions of families face tighter restrictions.

Barbara said:

“Millions of families face financial hardship because of this Government’s abject failure to get a grip on this virus.

 

“It cannot be right that the cost of the Government’s incompetence is that over a million children are left to go hungry over the school holidays.

 

“As a country, we expect better than this. It is time for the Government to do their job and ensure that the most disadvantaged pupils are not left even further behind because of the pandemic. Anything else will be letting families in Worsley and Eccles South and across the country down”