now boris johnson has defended his
refusal to extend
free school meal vouchers for children
in england over the half term holiday
but he's promised his government will do
everything in its power
to make sure that no child goes hungry
many councils are already providing meal
vouchers while hundreds of businesses
are offering parcels
to those in need the latest available
data indicates more than 1.4 million
children in england
are eligible for school meals although
campaigners say that the current need
means that that figure is much higher
the estimated cost per week is more than
21 million pounds
our political correspondent alex forsyth
has the latest on this
i'm just collecting some apples for
skewed apples in the morning for
breakfast
this family's been finding alternative
ways to stay fed
it might seem like a rural idle but it
can be a real struggle
their mum can't find work in the
pandemic she relies on universal credit
and says free school meals are a
lifeline that she's missing this half
term
it's embarrassing to not be able to do
the most basic
of human things and provide for your
children and then to have to go and ask
for that help
and have that help debated have that
help
disgust and have my decisions and my
choices as a mother disgust if
it happened to me it can happen to
anybody
the prime minister despite growing
pressure to offer food vouchers during
the holidays
is holding firm on that front but in
berkshire today promoting better
hospital food
he didn't rule out more support the way
to deal with it
we think is by increasing uh the the
funds available for universal credit
we've put up by about
a thousand a year but also to put more
into
local councils so we don't want to see
children
going hungry this winter this christmas
uh certainly not as a result of any
inattention by this government and
you're not going to see that but without
extra help this half term
some councils and businesses are
stepping in wolverhampton's labor leader
was delivering
food parcels today the government points
to 63 million pound it gave
england's local authorities this summer
to help families facing hardship
but many say that's already been spent
or falls far
short there's been no promise of further
funding or any detail
just a suggestion there might be more
support down the line
perhaps to avoid another damaging row
before christmas
of course not everyone thinks the
government should fund food during the
holidays
but this campaign has got real traction
and plenty here
including some tory mps think the
government has just
handled it badly there's huge passion a
desire to actually see this
system continue let's recognize that if
the
the national picture as such that they
want to support this
then it would be churlish not to
recognize that this is an avenue worth
pursuing
in scotland the government has
introduced schemes to fund meals during
the holidays
it's the same in wales and northern
ireland in england the campaigning
continues
with coldplay the latest to weigh in and
with marcus rashford the premier league
player who kick-started this issue
determined to keep it prominent the
political pressure
doesn't seem to be easy alex forsyth bbc
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