Three Baffling Reasons Tory MPs Have Given For Voting Against Free School Meals

On Wednesday evening, 322 Tory MPs voted against a motion to extend free school meals for children, as millions of families face financial hardship through the Covid-19 crisis.

Among the MPs voting against the motion – which has been fiercely campaigned for by footballer Marcus Rashford – were children’s minister Vicky Young and Jo Gideon – a trustee of Feeding Britain.

The government has come under fierce criticism for its approach. Even Nigel Farage came out against the vote, tweeting: “If the government can subsidise Eat Out to Help Out, not being seen to give poor kids lunch in the school holidays looks mean and is wrong.”

Here are three ways MPs have justified their votes – and some of the glaring holes in their defences:

The government is focusing on ‘pumping money into the welfare system’

During an appearance on Sky News on Thursday morning, minister for crime and policing Kit Malthouse said he voted against the motion to extend free school meals because “the best way to help those on low incomes was to pump money into the welfare system”.

The Universal Credit (UC) system, which was designed and rolled out nationwide under Conservative rule to replace multiple separate benefits, has repeatedly been cited as a key factor in pulling families into poverty.

According to the UK’s biggest food poverty charity, the Trussell Trust, the huge surge in demand for foodbank use can be explicitly linked to the introduction of UC. With a five-week wait for the first payment, many households have been plunged into rent arrears and faced mounting bill payments.

Research published by the Trussell Trust in September 2019 revealed that...

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