Rashford says kids missed out due to Tory flip-flopping on free school meals
Marcus Rashford has said he wished the Government had acted sooner to feed hungry kids during the pandemic.
The campaigning footballer, who twice forced Boris Johnson into U-turns over free school meals, said youngsters missed out while the Prime Minister was flip-flopping. The Tories were shamed into providing vouchers to vulnerable youngsters during the holidays in 2020 by his efforts. The Government then made another U-turn by extending support during the holidays in November through a winter grant scheme given to councils.
Speaking on Gary Neville's podcast The Overlap, the Manchester United and England star said: "We needed them [the Government] as support and they were learning more about the topic, as I was learning about the topic as well, because the numbers are crazier than what you could imagine, especially in Greater Manchester so it was more about helping the individuals that needed the help.
"I wish the U-turn never happened and we just managed to get it done straight away, because at the end of the day we lost a little bit of time. Time is important and a lot of things can happen in a short space of time.”
Marcus Rashford and his mum Melanie helping out at FareShare's Greater Manchester warehouse during the pandemic (Mark Waugh Manchester Press Photography Ltd)Marcus said there was more work to be done but the public had "shown they care" about free school meals. “It’s a long process, we’re still early in the process, but I’m just pleased that it’s up and running now because step by step it takes more care of itself," he said. "The public have shown that they care, and I feel like more people have made a difference now and made a change to people’s lives.”
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The 25-year-old, who relied on free school meals as a child, described how his mum Melanie went without to ensure her kids had enough to eat. He said: “At the time I never knew [that she would feed us and have no food left for herself], because she would always have a smile on her face. She is the toughest out of all of us – she still is now – nothing can break her.”
Boris Johnson was twice forced into U-turns on child hunger by Marcus Rashford (AP)Melanie is a "workaholic" but Marcus and his brothers have persuaded her to wind down a bit. He said: “She’s in control of fan mail and she enjoys doing it – she doesn’t miss one. I enjoy doing it, but after a long day of training to have 500 shirts to sign is not good – so I pretend I’m sleeping!”
Marcus, who raised millions of pounds for food charities during the pandemic, was awarded an MBE in November 2021 for his charitable work. And the England international is determined to continue his campaigning.
He said: "Just before the pandemic, I bumped into an old school friend, and he was homeless. He was one of those kids at school whose parents were in a better position than most of us and then to see him there, it was a shocking moment.
"It pushed me back a little bit and I thought, we’re going to try and do something to not just change his life, but everyone’s lives that are in difficult situations.
The Mirror and the NEU are campaigning for free school meals for all primary kids as strict eligibility rules mean poor children can miss out. An estimated 800,000 kids living in poverty do not qualify for free lunches
Children can get free school meals up to the end of Year 2 but older kids only qualify if their families receive certain benefits. More than two million children in England are eligible for free dinners, with need surging by 40% since before the pandemic.
The latest figures from the Department for Education show nearly one in four (23.8%) state school pupils qualified for school dinners in January - up from 1.9 million (22.5%) in 2022 and 1.4 million (17.3%) before the pandemic began in 2020.
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