MPs are calling on the Government to continue the free schools meal scheme throughout the summer school holidays.
The Govermment scheme is designed to help the 1.3m children who would usually be eligible for free school meals but cannot receive them because their children are not going to school during the lockdown.
Parents instead receive regular food vouchers worth £15 per child per week, which they can spend in supermarkets.
But the scheme is due to stop when the summer holidays begin in mid-July. Instead, just 50,000 very low-income families nationwide will be offered activities and food.
South Shields MP Emma Lewell-Buck has led calls for parents to continue receiving support over the summer.
In a letter to Education Secretary Gavin Williamson, she said: "Hunger is not limited to the school calendar; these vulnerable children need guarantees."
The coronavirus pandemic and lockdown had led to parents losing their jobs and incomes, she said. She asked the Government either to continue the current school meals scheme over the summer, or to extend the planned summer scheme from 50,000 families to every child currently eligible for free meals.
The letter was also signed by Newcastle North MP Catherne McKinnell, Washington and Sunderland West MP Sharon Hodgson, Jarrow MP Kate Osborne, Easington MP Grahame Morris and Wansbeck MP Ian Lavery.
Boris Johnson announced £63 million in funding to support vulnerable families during questions to the Prime Minister, saying the Government had “put its arms around the people of this country throughout this crisis”.
Under pressure from Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer over support for children who will not get free school meals over the summer holiday, Mr Johnson announced a £63 million support fund.
“We are announcing a further £63 million of local welfare assistance to be used by local authorities at their discretion to help the most vulnerable families,” the Prime Minister said.
“This Government has put its arms around the people of this country throughout this crisis and has done its absolute best to help.”
The Prime Minister said “we are now getting the disease under control but we will do it in a cautious and contingent way”.
He added: “We are sticking to our plan, it is a plan that is working and will continue to work.”
The Prime Minister’s questions exchanges came after the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said Britain’s economy was likely to slump by 11.5% in 2020 – but could contract by 14% if there is a second wave of Covid-19 later this year.
The stark forecast indicated the UK’s plunge in gross domestic product (GDP) will outstrip other badly impacted European countries, in a “single-hit scenario”, with falls of 11.4% expected in France, 11.1% in Spain, 11.3% in Italy and 6.6% in Germany, while the US economy is expected to shrink by 7.3% in 2020.
