NORTH East Hampshire MP Ranil Jayawardena has spoken out about voting against extending free school meals.

The vote, which was held last night (October 21), saw Labour's bid to extend free school meals over the holidays until Easter 2021 voted against.

The motion, backed by Manchester United player Marcus Rashford, was defeated by 261 votes to 322 – majority 61.

Ranil has now spoken out about his decision to vote against the motion: "This was reckless politicking from the opposition - it was a debate with no legal effect, whatever the result.
"Are we really suggesting that the state should fund free school meals all year round, on top of the £9,000,000,000 extra that the government has put into benefits?"
He continued: "People who need support are still getting benefits - Universal Credit went up by over £1,000 this year, Local Housing Allowance has been increased, councils have been given extra funds to support people with specific grants for food - and we have already given free school meals to an extra 50,000 children.
"Labour and the Lib Dems want to take us back to a national lockdown. Local people don’t want that. That’s why the Conservatives will continue to take the tough decisions to get things back to normal."