2,133 Children in Welwyn Hatfield face holiday hunger over Christmas as the Government, including Grant Shapps MP, vote against extending free school meals.

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In Welwyn Hatfield, 2133 children are at risk of going hungry over the holidays as the government withdraws support for the provision of free school meals. The October half term comes as millions of families face a furlough cliff-edge that could see jobs across the country at risk, at the same time as millions of families face tighter restrictions. 

The government has ignored calls from England footballer Marcus Rashford, whose campaign to extend free school meals has wide public support, and the Labour party on this issue.

Grant Shapps MP voted against extending free school meals.

Kieran Thorpe, Leader of the Labour Group on Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council said:

“This morally bankrupt Government had to be forced onto this issue by Marcus Rashford and it was disgraceful to see Conservative MPs fresh from their subsidised lunches line up to denigrate his efforts.

In Welwyn Hatfield this would have been a lifeline for over two thousand young children and cost a fraction of the huge amounts of public money transferred into the hands of private companies for Covid projects that have almost universally ended in abject failure. 

This isn’t just a Government that doesn’t listen – when it comes to working class children going hungry, It’s a Conservative Government that doesn’t care.”

You can sign our petition calling on Hertfordshire County Council and Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council to step-in over Christmas to make sure no child who needs free school meals will be left hungry.