Marcus Rashford obtains maintenance of food aid for disadvantaged children from the United Kingdom

Under pressure from a campaign orchestrated by Manchester United footballer Marcus Rashford, the British government decided on Tuesday 16 June to extend this summer a program of providing free meals to disadvantaged children, set up during confinement. .

🗣 to all MPs pic.twitter.com/Dc4weMvTHN

With the closure of schools at the end of March to combat the spread of the new coronavirus, the authorities had created this device intended for children from modest backgrounds.

The initial refusal of the power to maintain it during the summer period, despite the moving call to this effect launched by the English international and a limited cost in view of the astronomical sums committed against the current crisis, had caused a heavy fire from critics, including within the ruling party.

Boris Johnson ended up reviewing his position. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, "the Prime Minister fully understands that parents and children are facing an unprecedented situation during the summer," said his spokesperson. He therefore announced the release of a food fund in the amount of around 120 million pounds sterling (133 million euros).

The device, in the form of vouchers, will not last beyond the summer, said the same source. "It is the government's intention that all students return to school in September," said the spokesperson, saying that Boris Johnson praised "Marcus Rashford's contribution to the poverty debate".

After collecting 20 million pounds (22.3 million euros) to finance meals for disadvantaged people, Marcus Rashford, 22, had called on Monday the government in an open letter, which had aroused emotion.

He explained himself again on Tuesday in a column published in the daily newspaper The Times. "I know what it is to be hungry," he said, pleading vigorously for the extension of the scheme for disadvantaged children. "10 years ago, I was one of them."

He called 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"     

"Flip-flop"

The end of this program made a bad impression for an elected Prime Minister, in particular by winning many disadvantaged constituencies in the north of England, formerly workers and acquired by Labor, often considering themselves forgotten by the political class.

She also intervened at a socially delicate moment with a violent economic crisis due to confinement, only eased in small steps in the most bereaved country in Europe by the new coronavirus with nearly 42,000 dead. The gradual reduction, scheduled for the summer, of the partial unemployment scheme raises fears of massive job cuts.

Labor opposition leader Keir Starmer welcomed the "new flip-flop by Boris Johnson". "The idea of ​​having 1.3 million hungry children this summer is beyond imagination," he tweeted, welcoming Marcus Rashford "and the many others who spoke forcefully about this topic".

Faced with a previous controversy, the British government had finally decided to exempt foreign caregivers from an annual tax of several hundred pounds intended to finance the public health service (NHS).

Critics had also won over the conservative camp, as did the chairman of the Education Commission, Robert Halfon, who called the player a source of "inspiration and" hero of our time ".

In the early days of confinement, Marcus Rashford launched a fundraising campaign on social media. A first wave of donations had raised 134,000 pounds (149,000 euros) and he himself had paid money to bring this sum to 400,000 pounds (445,000 euros) in April.

He then pledged to get 20 million pounds (22.3 million euros) in cash and food donations to allow three million meals to be served to disadvantaged people, a goal reached at the end of last week.

With AFP

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