It was good to see Lawrie McMenemy praise Marcus Rashford for his part in persuading the Government to provide free meals to 1.3 million children during the summer holidays.

It was disappointing to see him unfairly and inaccurately criticise the Labour party for ‘trying to take some credit by saying they had supported Rashford’, and then ask it ‘please, take a back seat on this one and let Marcus Rashford enjoy the praise and credit he deserves’.

Cursory checks would have shown him that the Government confirmed its original decision NOT to give food vouchers on 9 June.

The very next day in Parliament, Labour leader Keir Starmer appealed to Boris Johnson to reconsider the decision.

Johnson told him ‘the right thing to do’ was to stop the vouchers.

The Labour Party then tabled its next Opposition Day Debate, due on Tuesday 15 June, to force MPs to vote on this very issue.

The day before that debate Rashford wrote his open letter to MPs and it was widely publicised in the media on 15 June.

Boris Johnson then said ‘it was the right thing to do’ to reverse the earlier decision. Conveniently, this was only hours before the Labour Party debate took place.

Quite possibly, the Labour Party’s actions brought the issue to Marcus Radford’s attention, but it’s an indictment on the British Press and on our democracy that nowadays it takes a celebrity to get involved before the Press are interested in reporting on hungry children, or the Government of the day feels sufficient shame to respond.

Taking a swipe at people who fight these injustices day in and day out does Lawrie McMenemy no credit.

Siobhan O’Rourke

Netley Abbey