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That man again Piers Morgan has lashed out at Therese Coffey’s “shameful and disgusting” response to Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford’s plea to the government to offer free school meals over the summer.
Manchester United star Marcus, 22, wrote a letter to MPs pleading them to “protect the vulnerable” by offering meal vouchers to underprivileged children over the summer.
As a boy his family struggled financially and he benefited from free school meals. The club even took him into their training and schooling scheme a year early, after his mother asked them too, as he wasn’t likely to get the right diet at home.
Marcus tweeted this morning: “1. When you wake up this morning and run your shower, take a second to think about parents who have had their water turned off during lockdown #maketheuturn.”
However the Secretary of State replied: “Water cannot be disconnected though.”
Piers and co-host Susanna Reid blasted the “tone deaf” response and slammed her “arrogance”.
Morgan said she “shouldn’t be in government” and that her tweet was “utterly staggering”.
“I wouldn’t trust Therese Coffey to make a coffee – and she’s Secretary of State.”
“The arrogance of that response,” he raged. “She shouldn’t be in government… you were useless when you came on [GMB] and now you’re utterly useless in that response.”
Marcus has since responded to the Tory MP’s tweet, writing: “I’m concerned this is the only tweet of mine you acknowledged. Please, put rivalries aside for a second, and make a difference #maketheuturn.”
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Gary Lineker, the Labour Party and other prominent figures have joined footballer Marcus Rashford in calls for the Government to extend its free school meal voucher scheme through the summer holidays.
The Manchester United and England star penned an open letter this week asking the Government to reverse its decision to cease the scheme – for which nearly 1.3 million children are eligible – outside of school term time.
The 22-year-old has followed up with a column in The Times newspaper on Tuesday, addressing the meal voucher issue and the broader subject of childhood poverty.
“I don’t claim to have the education of an MP in parliament, but I do have a social education,” Mr Rashford wrote.
“I am clued up on the difference a U-turn decision would make on the 1.3 million vulnerable children across the UK who are registered for free school meals because ten years ago I was one of them.”
While a Department for Education spokesman has said the national voucher scheme “will not run during the summer holidays”, Boris Johnson’s official spokesman says the Prime Minister will respond to Mr Rashford’s letter “as soon as he can”.
The campaign received a further push on Monday night when Mr Lineker told BBC Newsnight he urged the Government to consider the struggles of impoverished families during the coronavirus crisis.
“Obviously these are strange times. Kids wouldn’t ordinarily be fed during the summer holidays, I understand that. But you’ve got to look at it and go ‘These are very, very difficult times for a lot of people and a lot of families’,” the former England striker and Match of the Day presenter said.
“There are a lot of young people, young children, in this country that are going hungry. And in a country like ours, a country of quite substantial wealth, that seems to be largely unacceptable.
“Hopefully the powers that be will listen. It seems strange that we have to be in a position where we are desperately arguing to try to get young people fed, and stop them being hungry.”
Related – Marcus Rashford urges government to “find humanity” and support vulnerable in open letter
