Labour-led Milton Keynes Council is today working on an emergency scheme to support families left with worries over how they will afford to feed their children during the school holidays next week.

Thousands of families in MK have been left in a vulnerable position after the heartless decision by the Government to cut free school lunches during school holidays until Easter 2021, including next week’s half term.

Yesterday Conservative MPs, including Milton Keynes’s 2 Tory MP’s, voted against extending the free school meal scheme into next year.

The campaign to extend free school meal vouchers, relied upon by the most vulnerable children in our communities, has been led by Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford, who was successful in his campaign to extend free school meals into the Summer Holidays, but future school holiday support has now been refused.

In Milton Keynes over 7000 children and their families rely on the school meal voucher programme.

Cabinet Member for Children & Families, Cllr Zoe Nolan, said: “The Government had to be forced into a U-turn on this decision initially for the Summer Holidays and it’s a disgrace that they’ve taken the decision to let children go hungry in the holidays when families are still being hit hard by the effects of Covid-19.”

She continued: “The excellent work we’ve done as a Council over the last 8 months means that we’re in a position to be able to investigate what emergency support we can provide on this occasion, as we have done previously, and we’re working with partners today to ensure that children aren’t going without healthy food next week in Milton Keynes.”