Marcus Rashford unites food industry to fight child poverty
Author: Rafi Benady | Tuesday 1st September 2020
The Man United attacker has bought some of the UK’s biggest food brands together to tackle child poverty.
This comes after the star forced Boris Johnson’s hand to extend free school meals this summer.
Some of the giants included in the new alliance are Aldi, Asda, Co-op, and Deliveroo.
The alliance is calling for three policy recommendations by the National Food Strategy to be funded by the government as soon as possible:
- Expanding free school meals to every child from a household on Universal Credit or equivalent, reaching an additional 1.5m children aged seven to 16.
- Expanding holiday food and activities to support all children on free school meals, reaching an additional 1.1m children.
- Increasing the value of the Healthy Start vouchers from £3.10 to £4.25 per week and expanding it to all those on Universal Credit or equivalent, reaching an additional 290,000 children under the age of four and pregnant women.
Marcus Rashford said: "As a sportsman, I have always found such power in unity and teamwork, and I'm thrilled that such influential voices have put any allegiance aside to join me on my mission to move the conversation of child food poverty forward."