Link to this page: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/1109/31612
From The Socialist newspaper, 11 November 2020
Tory U-turn: Free school meals
Less starvation for us, more humiliation for the government
Lindsey Morgan, Leicester Socialist Party
In its latest U-turn, the government finally agreed a £170 million package to support children - children largely made vulnerable as a result of the Tories' capitalist system.
Free school meals will be provided for those currently entitled to them - over Christmas, Easter and summer holidays - until the end of 2021. This is a huge sigh of relief for many families, like mine, who will no longer have to starve some days so their children can eat.
Footballer Marcus Rashford lived in poverty as a child. His campaigning has shown up the inhumanity of the Tories and provided much more 'opposition' than Keir Starmer's Labour.
The money - while massively welcome - isn't being given back to us because the Tories have developed a conscience. It is to stymie potential civil unrest.
One of Rashford's demands was for free school meals to be extended to all families in receipt of Universal Credit. Many low-paid workers are not entitled to free school meals, despite being in need, because they earn slightly over the threshold. They missed out when free school meals were extended to holidays in the first lockdown.
Rashford has not merely accepted the deal. He has promised to keep campaigning.
Rashford said: "There is still so much more to do. And my immediate concern is the approximately 1.7 million children who miss out on free school meals, holiday provision, and Healthy Start vouchers, because their family income isn't quite low enough." As families are dragged down, there will be more demand on the scheme and many more families in need.
There must be an immediate increase in the minimum wage to £12 an hour, as a step towards £15, and benefits on the level of a living wage - work or 100% pay.
It is a disgrace and a modern tragedy that, in the sixth richest country in the world, people need to campaign for children not to go hungry.
This U-turn is a victory, but we deserve so much more. If we can't 'afford' to feed our children under capitalism, we can't afford capitalism.
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The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.
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In The Socialist 11 November 2020:
News
Capitalists vs working class - not in it together
Tory U-turn: Free school meals
Tory U-turn: Furlough extended - not enough to save jobs
Covid and poverty rising - Welsh lockdown ends with little progress
Covid law used against striking workers - for workers' control of safety measures
Schools need union action for safety
US election
After the polarised elections - what way forward?
Trump out! But mass workers' struggle needed
Trump is out - our readers react
Spycops
Spycops inquiry : why the capitalist state feared and continues to fear socialism
Workplace news
Rolls-Royce: Lancashire workers' strike shows the way to fight aerospace cuts and job losses
RMT union AGM votes to defend union democracy
Sainsbury's and Argos: Closures, cuts and soaring sales
Fight the witch-hunt of Corbyn and his supporters
Campaigns
Donate to the Socialism 2020 appeal now!
Solidarity with Manchester students - fight for democratic control of campus safety
Southampton trade unionists demand: "We won't pay for Covid"
Labour movement conference to defend Corbyn and discuss new party
The struggle for a new mass workers' party
Review and readers' opinion
Trotsky's ideas live on in the CWI
Readers of the Socialist react to effects of lockdown
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