Footie ace Marcus Rashford teams up with major supermarkets to push government for more child poverty reforms

FOOTBALLER Marcus Rashford is pushing the Government for further child poverty reforms.

And the England striker is backed by a squad of the biggest supermarkets.

Rashford, 22, has already helped to raise £20million to fund 3.9million meals for vulnerable children in lockdown.

Now he has teamed up with Tesco, Asda, Aldi, Co-op, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Iceland, Lidl, Deliveroo, FareShare and Kellogg’s in a child poverty task force.

The Manchester United player’s move is designed to put pressure on ministers to get them to make three major policy changes.

These are:

• Expansion of free school meals to every UK child from a Universal Credit household, helping an extra 1.5million seven to 16-year-olds.
• More food and activities in school holidays for those on free school meals, reaching an extra 1.1million children.
• A rise in Healthy Start vouchers, from £3.10 to £4.25 a week, to also include everyone on Universal Credit. A further 290,000 would benefit.

They want the funding from the Chancellor’s next Budget.

Rashford said: “As a sportsman, I have always found such power in unity and teamwork and I’m thrilled that such influential voices have put any allegiance aside to join me on my mission to move the conversation of child food poverty forward.

“Some 4.2million children were living in poverty in the UK prior to Covid-19 and this is expected to have risen.

"The task force stands together to offer these vulnerable children the platform they need to have their voices heard.

“I encourage everyone to stop and listen.

"The time for action is now. I’m proud and I’m humbled to see such a reaction and commitment from the food industry, and I am confident that together we can help change the lives of those most vulnerable for the better.”

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