Chancellor Rishi Sunak has appeared to reject calls by footballer Marcus Rashford to extend free school meals over the Christmas period.
A consistent campaigner for free school meals in the UK, Mr Rashford most recently called on the government to extend the provision for children in a letter to The Sunday Times on Sunday, 24 October
Calling for levelling-up to “begin with guaranteeing that every child in Britain can eat well — at least once a day”, he came together with food industry leaders from a number of organisations including Fareshare, Deliveroo, Sainsbury’s, Kellogg’s, Asda, Nestle and Iceland to ask the government to do more.
The letter went on to lay out the costs of extending free school meals and Healthy Start for more children over the next three years: 1% of the education budget and 4% of annual spending on obesity.
The signatories also added that failure to extend to provision would “deepen and extend the scarring caused by the pandemic on our youngest citizens and ultimately our economy.”
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Speaking to BBC One‘s ‘The Andrew Marr Show’ about the requests in the letter, Mr Sunak said that it was “right” the provision of free school meals should come to an end.
Will the government extend free school meals through the Christmas break, as Marcus Rashford has called for?
The Chancellor told the show that as other additional support, such as furlough and the £20 weekly Universal Credit uplift, had finished it was “right” the government had “transitioned to a more normal way of doing things.”
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He said: “So we put in place some measures to help families during coronavirus, that was the right thing to do, and in common with the other things that have now come to an end, whether that was furlough or other things that’s right that we’ve transitioned to a more normal way of doing things.
“But we have replaced… but we have actually already acted, is what I’d say to Marcus and everyone else.
“We’ve put in place something called the Holiday Activities programme, which provides not just meals but also activities for children during holiday periods for those families that need extra help.”
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Marcus Rashford and other campaigners continue to push for free school meals in England ahead of the Chancellor’s Autumn budget statement on Wednesday, 27 October.
They have already been extended in Northern Ireland and Scotland.
Featured Image – BBC One / The Andrew Marr Show
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Heartbreaking new figures show 35% of all children in the North West are living in poverty
Emily Sergeant
35% of all children in the North West are currently living in poverty, some heartbreaking new figures have revealed.
Some new research carried out to understand regional levels of child poverty, conducted by Loughborough University for the End Child Poverty Coalition, has sadly revealed over a third (35%) of all children in the North West are living in what is called ‘relative poverty’, after the cost of housing is considered – which is higher than the national average standing at 31%.
Over in the Lancashire authority of Pendle, this figure reaches 45%, making it the second highest rate of all local authorities in the country.
In Greater Manchester, both Oldham and Manchester join Pendle in the list of the 10 council areas with the highest child poverty rates in the UK, as well as Blackburn with Darwen, and Hyndburn, and to make matters worse, the North West features on the list more times than any other region nationwide.
Rusholme was identified as the Manchester area with the highest percentage rating – with more than half (51.3%) of all children there living in poverty.
88% of constituencies across the North West have a quarter of children in poverty.
This could lead to things like families being forced to use food banks, children going without warm clothes in winter, or living in cold or unsafe housing.
As a result of these shocking statistics being revealed, the End Child Poverty Coalition – which represents more than 135 organisations across the UK – is calling on the Government to meet its manifesto commitment to address these high levels of child poverty, not just in the North West but also across the rest of country.
“These figures should demonstrate to Government just how important it is to quickly address this so to prevent another generation of children from growing up in low-income families,” commented Rachel Walters, who is the End Child Poverty Coalition Manager.
“The Government’s strategy to tackle child poverty must invest in children in areas with higher levels of poverty, like the North West.”
Graham Whitham, who is a End Child Poverty Coalition spokesperson and the Chief Executive of Resolve Poverty, added: “No child should go without the things they need to be healthy and happy.
“The Government’s forthcoming national Child Poverty Strategy must demonstrate a clear ambition to ending child poverty in this country, backed by specific targets and immediate investment in social security.”
Featured Image – RawPixel
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Manchester’s ‘busiest’ road to close for annual safety checks this weekend
Emily Sergeant
Manchester’s ‘busiest’ road is set to close this weekend while annual safety checks are carried out, it has been confirmed.
As Manchester City Council looks to maintain and improve what is, by far, one of Manchester’s busiest and most-used roads, given the fact it is the main thoroughfare in and out of the city centre, it has been confirmed that Mancunian Way is set to close overnight this weekend for its annual inspection.
Carried out every year, the Council explains that these closures ensure that ‘vital’ safety inspections can be conducted to allow the major road to continue operating as normal.
The overnight closure will take place from 7-8 June.
From 5am on Saturday (7 June), Mancunian Way will be closed in both directions along its entire length, including all slip roads, between the Chester Road roundabout and Fairfield Street, and this will last until 7pm on Sunday (8 June), after which the road will be open to traffic again as normal.
In the meantime while the closures are underway, the Council assures that a signed diversion route will be in place via the north and eastern ring road sections – Trinity Way and Great Ancoats Street – and a local diversion route will be signed via Bridgewater Street, Whitworth Street West, Whitworth Street, and Fairfield Street.
Manchester’s ‘busiest’ road Mancunian Way is closing for annual safety checks this weekend / Credit: Pixabay
During this period there will also be a lane closure east/westbound at the Deansgate Interchange between 6:30-9:30am, and the inbound lane of Princess Road (heading towards Manchester) between 6:30am and 11:15am.
As is to be expected with these kinds of tasks, Councillors say they are preparing for a ‘level of disruption’ but are intending to keep it to a minimum.
“The annual inspection of the Mancunian Way is a vital job which ensures that the tens of thousands of daily users of this road can go about their journey in safety,” explained Councillor Tracey Rawlins, who is the Executive Member for Clean Air, Environment, and Transport.
“We do expect a level of disruption throughout this process so wherever possible we’d advise people to travel via public transport, or plan an alternate route ahead to avoid the work locations.
Georgina Pellant -
25th October 2021 
