The Reader: Extend meals vouchers for the early years

While I fully concur with Marcus Rashford’s call for the Government to reverse its decision on free school meals, it’s also astonishing that the Prime Minister has previously ignored the early years sector by not extending the vouchers to children under five accessing the disadvantaged two-year-old funding or the 15 funded hours of childcare. Many nurseries are overwhelmed by demands for food, clothing and hygiene products from parents badly affected by poverty during the pandemic. We do what we can but supplies are running short and children are going hungry.

Left unaddressed, all forms of poverty alter the trajectory of a child’s life. Now is the time to see kind and empathetic leadership from the Government to match public support of the work we do in building a route out of poverty for those families. This must include the extension of vouchers for children in term-time holidays.
June O’Sullivan MBE, CEO London Early Years Foundation

Editor's reply

Dear June

Last week I saw a harrowing documentary about the impact of poverty on children. A few days later I saw a picture of the Prime Minister brandishing a roll stuffed with three fat sausages, as if to suggest no child would go hungry on his watch. It makes sense to use schools to distribute meals during school holidays. It does not make sense to devise a new system. The Government has lost the argument. Its refusal to change is adding to the harm being done.
Ross Lydall, Health Editor

We all need to follow the rules

In the current health crisis we should all comply with the rules of our public health authorities. To use high-profile instances of people flouting the rules to justify not following them is absurd. When they are wrong to break the rule, how could that make it right for me to break it?
Will Podmore