‘A victory for common sense’ – Leeds reacts as free school meals to continue throughout the summer

It follows campaigning during the past few days, led by Manchester United and England striker Marcus Rashford, calling on the Government to continue to provide free school meals vouchers over the six-week holidays.

The leader of Leeds City Council called the move a “huge relief”, while others claimed the move would stop many children going hungry in the summer months.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson made an announcement this afternoon that 1.3 million schoolchildren would continue to receive free school meal vouchers over the summer.

It follows the campaign from Mr Rashford, who wrote a letter to MPs drawing on his own experiences of struggling to get by while he was growing up.

Leader of Leeds City Council Judith Blake (Lab) said: “This latest U-Turn is a victory for common sense. This will come as a huge relief to the increasing number of families in Leeds who are extremely concerned about being able to feed their children this summer.

“We know the number of people living in poverty has increased dramatically over the last decade, while COVID-19 has already had a major impact on many household finances with more predicted. The simple fact is that in 2020 we should not have children going hungry so it’s absolutely right that the Government has listened to its critics and changed its mind.”

Leeds West MP Rachel Reeves (Lab) tweeted: “A welcome u-turn but it is shameful that the government should have such a blind spot when it comes to child poverty. Especially when so many parents have lost jobs or hours at work because of Coronavirus. No child should go hungry.”

Horsforth councillor Jonathan Taylor (Con) tweeted: “Horsforth Community Aid Project had been planning support for those who would have seen this stop over summer, so pleased to see new money committed so we can continue our work with those shielding or otherwise struggling due to Covid 19.”

Leeds East MP Richard Burgon (Lab) called the decision an “example of people power”, adding: “We’re going to need a whole lot more of it going forward because this government can’t be trusted to put people first.”