BORIS Johnson has blanked Marcus Rashford's requests for talks over his new free school meals campaign, despite claims to the contrary from Matt Hancock.
That’s according to the Manchester United footballer, who has called for a meeting with the Prime Minister after renewing his campaign to help hungry children.
A petition from the England striker, who has been spearheading demands for free meals to be extended in England over the school holidays, has passed 800,000 signatures, piling further pressure on the UK Government to act.
Rashford questioned Johnson's willingness to engage with him on the issue, suggesting they had not spoken since the Government's U-turn on providing food vouchers during the summer break in June.
READ MORE: Douglas Ross under fire as Tories vow to skip second vote on free school meals
Hancock insisted there has been "communication" between Johnson and Rashford, who wrote to the Prime Minister in September.
He told BBC Breakfast: “There has been communication between the two as far as I understand it.”
But host Dan Walker said he had it on “good authority” that the Prime Minister had not in fact replied.
The Health Secretary added: “I understand that there has been communication but I am obviously not in charge of the Prime Minister’s correspondence. If there hasn’t been I’m sure that will be followed up.”
Those claims were dismissed by Rashford, who tweeted: "Hmm, unless he's referring to the call we had following the U-turn in June?"
Hmm, unless he’s referring to the call we had following the u-turn in June?... https://t.co/QSwmyETN7x
— Marcus Rashford MBE (@MarcusRashford) October 26, 2020
It would cost the UK Government an estimated £20 million a week to keep the food voucher scheme going.
But today, on the first day of half term, hungry youngsters in England are instead having to rely on businesses, local authorities and community groups, which are providing thousands of free meals.
Scores of people from a range of organisations have stepped in to help, with Hancock hailing them as "absolutely wonderful" while insisting that millions has already been provided to councils to help their communities.
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