STRUGGLING parents who depend on free school meals to feed their children, and those who support them, have said the vote against extending the scheme was ‘cruel and heartless’.

Headteachers, charities, and church groups have condemned the Government’s move to block Marcus Rashford’s bid to provide food for youngsters over forthcoming half-term holidays and the Christmas break.

Vulnerable parents are finding it hard to cope as the coronavirus pandemic continues, with a bleak economic forecast for the coming winter months.

One single mother, who has a baby son and seven-year-old daughter, was made unemployed over the lockdown period earlier this year.

She said: “We are already in a state of high anxiety.

“Money is being spent elsewhere, on gas and electric, and that goes up in the winter.

“Christmas is on its way and there is the cost of that.

“What if there is another lockdown?

“My daughter has already had to isolate for two weeks and was not getting school meals.

“This is a situation beyond our control and it would have added a bit of reassurance.

“If it went ahead it would have felt that we had not been forgotten about.”

The bid on Wednesday evening , tabled by Labour, was to give each disadvantaged child a £15 a week food voucher, but it was defeated by 322 votes to 261 with a majority of 61.

The Northern Echo:

Joe Toner

Consett Salvation Army supplies meals and toys to families in need over Christmas, and passes on donations of groceries to Consett Food Bank.

Volunteer Joe Toner said: “There are a tremendous lot of redundancies in this area and money is going to be very short.

“People cannot afford food for children so without some sort of financial assistance, some kids will go without.

“It just shows that the Tory party is not prepared to help the less well off.

“These kids will suffer drastically, and it is not just the hunger from not having the food in their stomach, but also the mental health issues it can cause from the anxiety in the households.”

Staff at Lanchester Primary School have seen first had how people in the community are suffering and have been delivering food parcels to impoverished families since Covid crisis hit.

Headteacher Jane Davis said: “There are families living in huge poverty, every little helps and nothing would be amiss at the moment.

“There is a lot of need out there. I would fully support free school meals and I am surprised they haven’t done it.

“We are still in middle of the pandemic and the job situation is now worse than it was in the summer term.”

Delta North, the alternative education school, formerly Consett YMCA, also runs a food bank and has also been delivering hampers to families since March.

Many families receive free school meals and are facing increasing hardship as more people lose work amid tighter lockdown restrictions for the region, with potentially worse to come.

The parent of one pupil said: “It’s comforting to know that food is coming and takes away a lot of stress.”

The Northern Echo:

Billy Robson

The charity’s chief executive Billy Robson said: “I have seen of the squalor that people are living in and it is ridiculous in this day and age.

“The Government has got it all wrong, sitting in their ivory towers with plenty of money.

“There is a lot of people who are near destitute and it breaks my heart.”

Five Conservatives rebelled against the Government and supported Labour’s proposal, and Caroline Ansell, who represents Eastbourne, resigned from her Government post over the issue, while North-West Durham MP Richard Holden abstained from the vote.

The Northern Echo:

Tory MPs Dehenna Davison, Peter Gibson and Jacob Young all voted against the proposals to provide free school meals to children during holiday periods

The Northern Echo contacted Peter Gibson, for Darlington, Dehenna Davison, Bishop Auckland, and Paul Howell, Sedgefield, but none of the Tory MPs were available to comment justifying their decision.

Members of the opposition, however, attacked the Government for its ‘disgraceful stance’.

Durham City MP Mary Foy said: “It was a vote on whether MPs believe that the poorest children in our society deserve at least one guaranteed meal a day during the holidays.

“Disgracefully, this Government clearly does not think that they do, even in a pandemic.

“No child chooses to be born into poverty and holiday hunger is never their fault.

“It is the role of the state to help those who cannot help themselves, and that is what Labour voted for.”

North Durham MP Kevan Jones said: “Many families are going to have a hard winter not to extend free school meals will add to hardship.

“It’s disappointing the Tories, including County Durham, MPs voted against this proposal.”

Easington MP Grahame Morris said the scheme was to alleviate the ‘shameful situation of child food poverty which has increased over the last ten years due to government policies.’

He said: “When you consider the present situation, people worried about jobs, the furlough cliff edge, and the pressure of day to day living in our Covid economy, this decision is cruel and heartless.

“Just two months ago, the Chancellor was providing limitless subsidised meals for anyone with the money to use his eat out to help out scheme. However, today, Conservative MPs voted to stop children living in low-income families having a free holiday meal.

“Parliament failed, and those who voted to permit children to go hungry need to face up to the consequences for their communities and be ashamed of themselves.”

The Northern Echo:

Marcus Rashford

Rashford, the Manchester United and England striker who was made an MBE recently, forced the Government into an embarrassing U-turn in the summer.

He said: “This is not politics, this is humanity.

“We talk about the devastating impact of Covid-19 but, if projections are anything to go by, child food poverty has the potential to become the greatest pandemic the country has ever faced.

“We must start working together and unite to protect our most vulnerable children.”