Will it take Marcus Rashford to force this dismal government to act over rising food prices?

Two-thirds of adults are worried about being able to afford Christmas dinner.” That statement relates to the contents of a survey commissioned by the Salvation Army, seeking to highlight the financial pressures people are under during what is traditionally seen as a time of joy.

A day later, we have the latest set of predictably horrible food price inflation figures released by the British Retail Consortium.

Prices rose by a record 12.4 per cent in the year to the end of October. However, the cost of fresh food – the stuff we’re supposed to try to eat more of for our health – leapt by 14.3 per cent. Needless to say, each of these figures represents a marked increase on the previous month. Price rises are accelerating, and it isn’t likely to get better any time soon.

Can you see the issue with that opening statement? Clearly, not being able to afford Christmas dinner as a result of this is awful, all the more so for families with children. But we should not underestimate the scale of the problem many face. It isn’t just being able to afford Christmas dinner that the people at the sharpest end of this crisis are worried about – it’s being able to afford any sort of dinner. Or potentially breakfast. Or potentially lunch.

Last month, the TUC released the results of a poll carried out by Opinium among 10,000 people, which found that one in seven (14 per cent) were already skipping meals because of the crisis.

That number is all but certain to rise. Britain has endured what the TUC describes as the “longest and harshest wage squeeze in 200 years”, and prices are still rising at the sort of clip not seen since the “sick man of Europe” era in the 1970s.

The situation is particularly dire among those reliant on universal credit, either to provide an income or to top up their meagre wages. Payments were increased in line with September’s inflation after a fierce political battle. Prices rose by 10.1 per cent that month, per the Consumer Prices Index (CPI).

However, as the Institute for Fiscal Studies has pointed out, the rate of inflation experienced by the poorest is outstripping the CPI figure. That should not come as any surprise when so much of their budget is spent on essentials. Like food.

Something else worth bearing in mind when it comes to universal credit: the Child Poverty Action Group notes that the payment has only actually risen in line with the CPI in four of the last 10 years. So in real terms, it has been falling. Recipients thus don’t have any slack in their budgets to cope with what has been happening.

This explains why so many adults are missing meals – and why so many children are going to school hungry.

It is an appalling situation for a rich country to find itself in. And for all its economic woes, and the inexcusable mistakes made by its politicians, Britain remains a rich country.

It took the intervention of Marcus Rashford, the Manchester United and England footballer, to get free school meals extended through the summer holidays to the benefit of 1.3m children in 2020.

Rashford is understandably preoccupied with the World Cup at the moment, and he’s been giving a marvellous demonstration of the abilities that made him a star with enough clout to force ministers to take notice when he suggests that they might like to try doing their jobs.

Briefly – all too briefly – they responded, moving themselves on free school meals the day after he wrote an open letter calling on them to tackle food poverty. Laudable as it was, it shouldn’t have taken Rashford’s intervention for this to happen.

The fact that Britons are going hungry should shame us all, but particularly a governing party that appears more interested in infighting than it is in tackling this problem. Trouble is, shame is a concept the current dismal crop of ministers appear to have little understanding of.

Sad but true: there is one very good reason for hoping that Rashford continues to play a key role in the England team managing a deep run in the World Cup. If that happens, he will be all but impossible to resist if he raises the issue once more upon his return from Qatar. We may need him to.