London (AFP)

Boris Johnson's British government faces mounting pressure on Tuesday to extend free meals for underprivileged children over the summer, following a campaign by Manchester United footballer Marcus Rashford.

Since the schools closed at the end of March to combat the spread of the new coronavirus, the government has implemented a system allowing children from modest backgrounds to benefit from free meals. But he refuses to extend it during the summer.

"I know what it's like to be hungry," 22-year-old Marcus Rashford wrote in a column Tuesday in the conservative daily The Times. He underlines how well he knows the effect a government turnaround would have on the 1.3 million children eligible for this system, and for good reason, he was one of them 10 years ago.

The Labor opposition called for a debate in the Parliament to obtain the extension of the device. The campaign of the English international striker from Manchester, who challenged the government in an open letter on Monday, received the support of conservative members, including the chairman of the education committee, Robert Halfon, who hailed the player as "an inspiration and a hero of our time".

In his rostrum, Marcus Rashford calls on MPs of all stripes to "put aside their rivalries" and show "solidarity" on a subject that could undermine the "stability of families across the country for generations to come" .

Labor MP Rebecca Long-Bailey, responsible for education within the Labor Party, said it would be "insensitive" on the part of the government not to take this "small step to ease the financial pressure" that weighs on households "and ensure that children can eat during the summer holidays".

According to the Times, the extension of the device would cost 120 million pounds (133 million euros). The government recently announced an envelope of 63 million pounds (70 million euros) to help families in difficulty.

In the early days of confinement, Rashford launched a fundraising campaign on social media. A first wave of donations had collected 134,000 GBP (149,000 EUR), which he had raised to bring the sum to 400,000 GBP (445,000 EUR) in April.

He then pledged to collect GBP 20 million (EUR 22.3 million) in financial and food donations to allow 3 million meals to be served to disadvantaged people, a goal reached at the end of last week.

© 2020 AFP