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On behalf of everyone who has been reliant on free school dinners: those of you saying it's not the government's job to feed disadvantaged children have no idea the huge difference those meals make. Or the lasting damage you will do to our society and economy.
Firstly, it's petrifying if you're on free school meals. I worried about it every day that I went to school. That a mistake might mean I'd not get a dinner. Conflicted with the embarrassment of having to queue up every day for a free token and the gratitude of getting it.
It's not just about the food. If you're in the group who need free school meals, it's like everyone else has been given a head start in life. Even those just marginally better off. It's hard enough trying to make up that distance in life, let alone ever dream of getting ahead.
Those arguing against @MarcusRashford are effectively in favour of moving life's start line back even further for the most disadvantaged. This is the societal equivalent of sabotage.
They’re choosing to widen the gap between the poorest and everyone else and they’re choosing to create long-term societal and economic consequences. This isn’t just heartless, it’s economically thick.
Feeding disadvantaged children (through a holiday during unprecedented global crisis that isn’t their fault) is a form of long-term economic investment. So even if you’re not doing it for society, do it for the economy.
