Andrew Gwynne, MP for Denton and Reddish, is calling on the Government to fund free school meals this summer to ensure a ‘holiday without hunger’.
Today, Gwynne has written to the Secretary of State for Education demanding he reverses his decision to withdraw funding for free school meals over the summer holidays as part of Labour’s ‘Holiday without Hunger’ campaign. Last week, Gwynne also signed another letter co-ordinated by fellow Labour MP Emma Lewell-Buck urging Williamson to reconsider the decision not to extend free school meals into the summer holidays.
In Denton and Reddish, 2,612 children are at risk of going hungry this summer as the government withdraws support for the provision of free school meals. With the added pressure of the coronavirus crisis plunging families into deeper poverty and social distancing and added pressures raising questions on whether holiday lunch schemes may run, many families are rightly concerned about how they will afford food during the summer holidays.
Andrew Gwynne said:
“The Government’s decision not to continue funding free school meals throughout the summer holidays shows a real lack of compassion and needs to be reversed immediately.
“The ongoing Coronavirus crisis has hit the incomes of families, as well as charities and food banks, making it more important than ever to ensure that our children are fed over the long summer holidays.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that any child in Britain should be going hungry and I will continue to push the Government on this issue.”