Liverpool's mayor has slammed the "arrogance and "ignorance" of Tory MPs who voted against free school meals.
Joe Anderson was responding to Ben Bradley on Twitter, after the Tory MP for Mansfield played down councils such as Liverpool funding free school meals.
Mr Bradley, a critic of extending free school meals, came under fire when he tweeted that free school meals wouldn't help kids who lived in a "crack den" or a "brothel".
And when footballer and food poverty campaigner Marcus Rashford praised a council that had pledged to extend free school meals during the critical half-term break, he responded: "You know Government is directly funding councils to do this right?
"That's the whole point. Not extending FSM because we've already given billions to Councils to directly support the most vulnerable families... Councils who choose to give out FSM are doing so with Gov funding!!"
Liverpool Council was one of the first to pledge to extend free school meals, and Mayor Anderson was quick to respond.
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He wrote: "This guy sums up the arrogance and ignorance of those Tory MPs who voted against extending free school meal vouchers.
"@BBradley_Mans believes it is government money being used.
"It’s the people’s money - us taxpayers - and it’s the people who are speaking loud and clear #feedthekids."
Mayor Anderson announced on Friday morning that his cash-strapped local authority will provide the vital vouchers for the families in the city who will struggle to provide meals for their children over next week's half-term holiday.
It will mean that the council will provide 20,000 children with the vouchers over the half term break. Several other councils in the Merseyside region have followed suit.
The move comes after the Conservatives voted down a Labour motion in Parliament which sought to back footballer Marcus Rashford's campaign to extend the meal vouchers for struggling families.
The council joins Liverpool FC and a host of generous local businesses who have offered help, food packs and meals to the thousands of families struggling to put food on the table.
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