Manchester United star Marcus Rashford leads new child food poverty task force

Marcus Rashford is spearheading a task force on the issue of child food poverty and is warning of “devastating” effects on the stability of the country if action is not taken quickly.

The Manchester United and England striker was successful in campaigning for free school meal vouchers to be provided to pupils over the summer period.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, the 22-year-old said he knew the free school meal vouchers over the summer would not be the end of his campaigning.

He added: “I think we pretty much knew straight away we had found a short-term solution but that wasn’t going to work in the long run.

“We had to think about how’s the best way to do it so these families can eat long term and not have any issues.”

Rashford has now teamed up with the food industry to shed light on the issue of child food poverty in the UK.

Along with Aldi, Asda, Co-op, Deliveroo, FareShare, Food Foundation, Iceland, Kellogg’s, Lidl, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose, he has formed the Child Food Poverty Task Force.

Over the next six weeks, the task force members will dedicate their platforms to sharing stories of those most affected by child food insecurity in the UK.

Rashford said the task force is endorsing three national food strategy policy recommendations.

The first recommendation is the expansion of free school meals to every child from a household on Universal Credit or equivalent, reaching an additional 1.5 million seven to 16-year-olds.

The second one is the expansion of holiday provision (food and activities) to support all children on free school meals, reaching an additional 1.1 million children.

And the third is increasing the value of the Healthy Start vouchers to £4.25 per week (from £3.10) and expanding into all those on Universal Credit or equivalent, reaching an additional 290,000 pregnant women and children under the age of four.

In his letter, Rashford wrote: “When we pause, listen and reflect on what the future of our next generation could potentially look like, it’s easy to see that if we don’t take action quickly, the issue of child food poverty will have devastating effects on the stability of our country.

“These children are the future – our next generation of NHS workers, police officers, footballers and politicians.”

Rashford recalls his own experience, writing: “I remember the sound of my mum crying herself to sleep to this day, having worked a 14-hour shift, unsure how she was going to make ends meet.”

He said he has sat with parents who have “cried with sheer relief that putting food on their children’s plates was one less thing to worry about this summer”.

He told MPs: “I spoke to a mother recently who, along with her two young sons, is currently living off three slices of bread a day – soaking them in hot water and adding sugar, hoping that the porridge consistency might better sustain the hunger of her one-year-old child.

“I spoke to a family who were sleeping on one mattress on the floor – the reason being, just like any good parent would, they had had no choice but to sell every valuable they owned to put food on the table for their children.

“All of this, a result of unforeseen circumstances that are entirely out of their control, such as redundancy and illness.

“This is the true reality of England in 2020.”

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman told a Westminster briefing: “We are taking substantial action to make sure that no child goes hungry during the pandemic and continue to support those in need.

“Our national voucher scheme supported children eligible for free school meals while they were at home and the Covid summer fund ensured that families continued to receive support over the summer.

“We will carefully consider the taskforce recommendations as we approach the next spending review.”