No u-turn on free school meals, says Brandon Lewis – kids will have to survive on charity
Brandon Lewis: this is an old image so the facts about his houses may be out of date.
If you think we’ve reached peak Tory cruelty, allow me to point out at the outset that we haven’t.
It may seem that way, with Boris Johnson and his government passing cash hand-over-fist to their Tory chums while ordering that children stricken with a poverty that they have created must starve, but believe me – it is possible for these soulless monsters to do much worse.
On the subject of soulless monsters, Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis made an appearance on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show today to make it clear that, no matter how much abuse they receive, Tory MPs have absolutely no intention of reversing their decision to deny free school meals to kids who need them over the half-term and Christmas holidays.
He claimed that the Tory government has already put huge amounts of money aside for this purpose but the claim does not correspond with reality; he was just plucking numbers from his rear end.
Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis says there won’t be a U-turn or change of policy on providing free school meals in the holidays in England#Marr https://t.co/GHVyhi4g8N pic.twitter.com/KiOOAgyTcZ
— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) October 25, 2020
Marr told him businesses were stepping up and Lewis signified his approval. But we have an answer to that :
https://twitter.com/bellamyonabike/status/1319203961329635330
The Tory response to the charity from local businesses was to claim that these firms clearly do not need government support during the Covid crisis and should not apply for it; a clear indicator that they intend to punish anybody in a position to stop poor children from starving:
https://twitter.com/TheMendozaWoman/status/1320048066288824321
The Tory MP highlighted in the article, Selaine Saxby (North Devon), has since claimed that she was misrepresented…
Life comes at you fast… pic.twitter.com/7NrsXLnRMs
— David Banks (@DBanksy) October 24, 2020
… but it is hard to see how “I am delighted our local businesses have bounced back so much after lockdown they are able to give away food for free, and very much hope they will not be seeking any further government support” can be interpreted any other way.
Ms Saxby was elected last December with a massive majority of 14,813 votes – that’s 14,813 more than her nearest rival, 26.6 per cent of the total. She took 56.5 per cent of the vote altogether.
This means the people of North Devon voted by an overall majority to support a Conservative who endorses policies that put children in poverty, and votes to starve them once they are there.
I know This Site has readers from that constituency who are sickened by their MP’s choices. Public voting habits being what they are, it will be up to these people to force their peers to see what they have supported – possibly by finding local examples of children who are going hungry as a result of this cruel Tory policy? – and make them face their responsibility for it.
Meanwhile the backlash against the Tories continues:
Davies is the MP for Grantham and Stamford. People living there: you know what to do.
If you have made a similar infographic – or have seen one – please send it in so I can publish it here.
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Looks to me that the “Starve the Poor” Tory Austerity mentality has returned.
This is when they starve charities as well as children and rely heavily upon the voluntary sector, the goodwill and generosity of the (non-Tory) British people.
Let’s see what Bojob’s Focus Groups have to say on the matter…..
I used to work in a place that employed people from all sorts of countries. I had friends from Sweden and Finland that were horrified by events such as Children In Need, they said in their countries those things were funded by the governments.
Personally, I think that the debate is being framed incorrectly. If parents can’t afford to feed their children during term time, how is it that, suddenly, they can afford to feed them in the holidays? This isn’t new. What have ALL parties been doing to address the stain of child hunger all year round, every year? I’m not letting the Conservatives off the hook but calling it free school meals is a misnomer and effectively allows the Conservatives a way out. We should call it what it is and see how our politicians spin that. You can’t tarnish schools, if it’s not about schools. I think that we need to stop calling it free school meals, when it isn’t schools’ responsibility. £et the government step up!
Interesting points. What would you call those meals, then?