Pranav Nair
According to the Daily Mail, Manchester United ace, Marcus Rashford has forced about another U-turn by the British government.
This comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed to provide free school meals over the winter holidays. (h/t Daily Mail)
He personally phoned the United star after he played in the team’s Premier League clash against Everton on Saturday. He was informed that a decision was made to give £170m of extra funding for the initiative. (h/t Daily Mail)
The 23-year-old has been campaigning for months to get the Government to provide free school meals to underprivileged children over the holidays amidst the coronavirus crisis. (h/t Daily Mail)
Just last month, Conservative MPs voted against a Labour motion in the House of Commons calling for the extension of free school meal provision following Rashford’s campaign. (h/t Daily Mail)
Thankfully the government’s U-turn now will ensure children will not have to worry about where their next meals will come from. (h/t Daily Mail)
Rashford was receptive of the U-turn and welcomed the steps taken to fight child poverty. He is also very proud of those who had united behind his campaign and promised his supporters to until child hunger in the UK is at an end. (h/t Daily Mail)
While it was distressing that the government chose against supporting the plan initially, it is better late than never. This will now ensure that nearly 1.7 million children in the UK will breathe easy over the next 12 months. (h/t Daily Mail)
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The money will pay for the Covid Winter Grant Scheme to support families over the season. The Holiday Activities and Food programme will be extended to cover the Easter, summer and Christmas breaks in 2021. (h/t Daily Mail)
As part of the package, Healthy Start payments, which help expectant mothers and those with young children on low incomes and in receipt of benefits to buying fresh fruit and vegetables, are set to rise from £3.10 to £4.25 a week from April 2021. (h/t Daily Mail)
Rashford’s efforts have helped raise voice to an issue that may otherwise not have got the attention it deserved. We can only raise a toast in the striker’s honour.
