There have been a lot of people posting and commenting on social media, both constituents and others who just want to ramp up the numbers, about my vote in this week's Opposition Motion to extend free school meal vouchers outside of term time until March 2021.
There have been a number of posts claiming that I “voted for children to starve” and “voted to make vulnerable children go hungry” or “voted to end free school meals”. These statements are inaccurate and for those who have requested me to justify my vote, here it is.
Since the start of the coronavirus crisis, the UK Government has provided £9.3 billion of funding specifically targeted at those most in need across England. This has included:
• Increases in Local Housing Allowance
• A £180 million fund to help families struggling to pay their rent
• £63 million of welfare assistance for local councils
• £16 million of additional funding for food charities
• Increases to Universal Credit, above the rate of inflation
Claims that the Government has not supported struggling families are unfounded.
I believe that no child should ever go hungry and I was glad to see the Government offer an extension of free school meal vouchers over holiday periods earlier in the year, during the time when schools were closed and the pandemic was at its peak. During those exceptional times, these measures were necessary.
The argument as to whether it is the responsibility of the Government to provide meals for children outside of school times is one that sees mixed reactions. That aside I believe that simply providing a blanket cash hand-out to parents, whether they need it or not, is neither a sensible nor effective way to ensure that the most vulnerable children in our community are fed.
I believe that there are better long-term solutions to the issues of child hunger in England which can target help to those who need it most. Like our increase in Universal Credit, which means that families are already receiving up to an extra £20 per week (£1,000 per year).
At the peak of the coronavirus crisis with a standardised national lockdown in place, Government stepped in with a national plan to ensure that schools continued to provide meals to children who were at home and would have otherwise received a free meal.
We are now in a very different situation, with differing alert levels and restrictions across England. A blanket system dictated by Government is no longer the correct approach. The need for local support measures is a decision for individual authorities based on local circumstances.
The Government has worked extremely hard over recent days to deliver financial support packages worth millions to areas like ours for this very reason.
I am therefore pleased to see that Rochdale Council has chosen to use part of their Government support funding to provide holiday meal vouchers for children in the borough who receive free school meals.
There are a number of reasons why a child may be entitled to a free school meal. It is important to remember that not every child on free school meals is living in food poverty.
Of course, I understand the needs here and the strength of local feeling. This makes me all the more disappointed that some politically minded activists find it acceptable to use this very important issue in an opportunistic way to mislead people and generate anger.
I want to be very clear that I did not and will not vote for children to go hungry, not in Heywood and Middleton, not anywhere. I will be continuing to work with my Westminster colleagues towards sensible and effective long-term solutions to end child food poverty in the UK and most importantly to ensure where help is needed it is targeted to those who need it the most.
