Following Therese Coffey’s ‘utterly heartless tweet devoid of empathy which sums up this government’
Marcus Rashford has been successful in forcing the government to U turn on continuing to provide food vouchers to children struggling to afford food.
Having originally said they would not U turn they now have following a campaign that has embarrassed them in to recognising suffering. With Marcus Rashford’s profile and support they risked an even larger swathe of people turning against them.
The vouchers – for £15 a week – will be made available to around 1.3 million children in England who are currently eligible for the scheme, and will last for six weeks.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson‘s spokesman said he “understands children and parents face unprecedented situations” during the coronavirus outbreak.
He added that payment will be made through vouchers – most likely a one-off six-week voucher, to be given to eligible families at the end of term.
The Department for Education had denied that any change was likely in a statement on Monday, with a spokesperson saying: “The national voucher scheme will not run during the summer holidays.”
But the government has changed tact after Manchester United striker Rashford sent an open letter to MPs, which was retweeted more than 140,000 times on Twitter.
Rashford’s intervention sparked a tetchy exchange with Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey on the social media site, although her response to the 22-year-old was dismissed by the government.
