The ill-judged majority vote in the House of Commons against free meals during the school holidays once again proves how out of touch the government is. All 322 votes against Labour’s motion to extend free school meals into the holidays were Conservative MPs. Among them was Vicky Young, the Minister for Children, and Jo Gideon, a trustee of the food poverty charity Feeding Britain. The irony of these votes shows how this motion, on what would seemingly be a basic human right, has been turned into a political debate. In 2019, 1.3 million children claimed free school meals and an estimated 900,000 more have since the start of the pandemic. These figures show that these meals are a lifeline for millions of families and not something to be voted for along party lines. 

After the 61 vote majority was announced, Marcus Rashford, the face and voice of the campaign, neatly summed up what this vote means: ‘a significant number of children are  going to bed tonight not only hungry but feeling like they do not matter because of the comments made today.’ Rashford eloquently highlights how the government has, once again, shown where its priorities lie in regards to public spending. Only recently, it emerged that MPs are set to receive a pay rise of over £3000 despite the government using the excuse of a lack of funds and plans for investments into the welfare system as reasons for why this motion was turned down. This absurd hypocrisy serves as a reminder of the 2009 Parliamentary expenses scandal when, during the worst recession this country had seen since the 1930s, it was revealed MPs were accused of spending taxpayers’ money on home improvements, cleaning services, and household goods such as shoes and jumpers. Then, as now, millions of families struggled to put food on the table amid redundancies and pay cuts.

Some of the excuses for the no vote was a claim by MP Ben Bradley that parents would fall into ‘dependency’ while Brendan Clarke-Smith asserted that he does ‘not believe in nationalising children.’ This statement accentuates how the government has turned the basic human right of access to food into some political power play. Clarke-Smith continues, seemingly oblivious to the fact that a global pandemic has left millions of families without a job or on lower wages, asking ‘where is the slick PR campaign asking absent parents to take some responsibility for their children?’ At a time when shops are giving out free coffees to nurses, a number close to one million volunteered for the NHS and school children are painting pictures for Marcus Rashford, the 322 MPs who voted against this motion clearly have no measure of the public mood. 

This is more obvious than ever after restaurants, councils and charities have come out against the vote in the past few days offering free meals for children up and down the country this half term. From Yeovil to Tooting to right here in Birmingham, these acts of  kindness at a time when the restaurant industry is struggling more than ever shows the strength of community. 

So, the main question is where do we draw the line between politics and such a basic need? At what point does a government who has arguably never experienced such a lack of food for their families realise that going hungry at any point of the year is not a debatable issue? There may have been concerns about setting a precedent, for free school meals to soon be available all year round with or without a pandemic. But this begs the questions why wouldn’t we want to feed children all year round?  This pandemic has made an already large number of children on free school meals even larger, this problem is not going away with the availability of a vaccine. Every child has the right to not wake up hungry whether it is term time or the holidays, a pandemic or not. 

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