Boris Johnson yesterday announced the ‘Covid summer food fund’ after mounting pressure from Rashford and supporters of his campaign. Tara Pilkington reports.
Boris Johnson has taken a U-turn over his initial decision regarding free school meals for lower-income families during the summer months and has now promised that his government will provide food vouchers for some of England’s poorest families after a campaign launched by the footballer Marcus Rashford.
The prime minister said that on Tuesday that he had called the England and Manchester United striker to explain the reversal.
24 hours before this announcement, No 10 had initially rejected the footballer’s plea for the government to keep paying for the £15-a-week vouchers over the summer, and ministers had been sent out to defend the government’s position.
Following this campaign by Rashford, and with some Conservative MPs threatening to rebel against the government if this decision was not reversed, Downing Street retreated and announced a new £120m “COVID summer food fund” for 1.3 million pupils in England.
Commenting on this development on Twitter, Rashford said: “I don’t even know what to say. Just look at what we can do when we come together, THIS is England in 2020.”
Read his comments below: