In Defence

 Marcus Rashford won the public vote. He is a problem for the current government for several reasons.

1. His message is simple and clear. We are desperate for a simple clear message.

2. He’s not political. If the government say that Labour were worse then it doesn’t matter to him he just wants the problem fixed. We are desperate for an a-political solution to the virus. What we wouldn’t give to have them work together right now?

3. He’s genuine. He knows what he is talking about it because he has lived the experience. This is a problem a lot of people have with politicians who get subsidised lunch and an expense account telling people how to spend the £160 a week the government gives them. 

4. He also isn’t poor, so they can’t accuse him of jealousy. And he’s famous and well liked.

The more the Conservative party dig back against what he is saying the worse they look.

For some reason this upsets me.

I think it’s because it’s not entirely fair. 

The party didn’t vote to starve children. That wasn’t the question. 

As I continue and defend the government I will be putting myself in an odd position.

Not agreeing to extending free school meal vouchers over the holidays is about their belief that there is a better way to sort out the problem or a belief that the problem isn’t as bad as people are saying. Both of these things can be simultaneously wrong and right. It’s a Schrodinger’s cat. 

Let’s tackle the belief that it’s not as bad as people are saying first. It is true that for some people on universal credit there is no problem with feeding their children. It’s also true that some are just shit parents who are making poor choices. However, for many, and this is where Rashford’s experience is key, it is really hard to feed children in the school holidays on the money they have. Maybe the conservative MPs who think the problem isn’t as bad as people say have only met the Pop Larkin characters, who are claiming benefits for their children, despite making £1000s a day, trimming the trees of posh people for cash. They might only know the family who take 3 Florida holidays a year but wear their badge of poverty as an excuse to claim every extra benefit going. Perhaps they don’t know anyone who loves their children. 

Now to the idea that there is a better way to ensure children are fed. This is where I have more sympathy for the government. The extension of free school meal vouchers into the holidays seems to you and I to be a simple approach that would work but I don’t know. I haven’t seen the data. I’m assuming that they have. Maybe increasing universal credit, or providing childcare (so parents could work), or funding training. or recruiting more social workers to spot the problems, or doing nothing so that businesses and charities step up to fill the gap is more effective.

It is also true that there isn’t a bottomless pit of money, even if they have found Theresa May’s magic money tree, they do still have to balance the books and also keep the people who can afford to feed their children happy. 

I’m quite disturbed by the amount of abuse of MPs I’ve seen. It really isn’t as if they have taken anything away, only decided not to give any more. Whatever we think of our MPs they do have a very difficult job. It’s up to us to vote for the people that will follow the same ethical standards as we have and to put pressure on when we think they are wrong but abuse, death threats and targeted campaigns based on a false statement they they have voted to starve children isn’t fair and will cause even fewer genuinely good people to go into politics.