Matt Hancock says he is ‘proud’ of Marcus Rashford for ‘playing his part’

Health secretary Matt Hancock has “expressed gratitude” towards Marcus Rashford’s successful campaign for the government to reverse its decision on the free school meal vouchers scheme, and said he is “very proud” of the footballer.

Speaking on BBC’s Today programme, Mr Hancock was asked how the hardships faced by hungry families in the UK could be identified by the 22-year-old Manchester United player and not the government.

The health secretary heaped praise onto Mr Rashford and his campaign, saying he conducted it “with integrity but also in a calm and reasonable way”.

“He absolutely persuaded the public as well as the prime minister,” said Mr Hancock. “I’m really proud of him.”

In March, at the start of the coronavirus lockdown, Mr Hancock called for Premier League footballers to take pay cuts and “do their bit” to help out those in vulnerable financial positions. He faced criticism for his comments as many viewed it as deflecting from the government’s own shortcomings.

Today presenter Nick Robinson said Mr Hancock owed Mr Rashford and the Premier League an apology for his previous comments, adding: “The truth is there are many people this morning thinking that Marcus Rashford has played more of a part in helping the poor and vulnerable in this country than the people who are elected to do it.”

Mr Hancock responded: “Oh, I think he’s been absolutely brilliant, he’s absolutely played his part. I called on everybody to play their part and he has done that with gusto, not just in this instance but also he’s been volunteering throughout the crisis so I think that’s absolutely wonderful. I owe him thanks.”

In a separate interview, Mr Hancock had also managed to get the footballer's name wrong. Speaking to Sky News' Kay Burley, the health secretary mistakenly referred to Mr Rashford as "Daniel".

Mr Rashford responded to the gaffe by saying he had been "called worse names than that". In a later tweet, Mr Hancock used an emoji of a man slapping his forehead and said: "Too early. But in all seriousness Marcus you're a credit to the nation."

The government had initially decided not to extend the free school meal vouchers scheme, but made a sharp reversal just before Boris Johnson was due to block a Labour bid to stop “holiday hunger”.

The U-turn came after Mr Rashford, who raised £20m for the FareShare charity to supply children’s meals throughout the pandemic, appealed to Mr Johnson to back down in an open letter earlier this week.

Around 1.3 million pupils who qualify for free school meals in England will be given supermarket food vouchers to cover the six-week summer holiday. They would otherwise have had their free meal vouchers cut off when the school term ends in July.

Downing Street said the scheme will now end when schools return in September. Extending the scheme will cost the government around £120m on top of a separate £63m scheme to help local authorities provide activities and meals to disadvantaged children during the holiday.