Why MPs like Ben Bradley are failing tremendously at deflecting from the Conservatives’ record on child poverty

You know you’ve hit a nerve when Conservative MPs try to assert that free school meal vouchers will be traded for drugs. Ben Bradley and Mark Jenkinson recently attempted to make this link, unsurprisingly creating a significant response contesting the assertion from, among others, Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner.

Ben Bradley’s since-deleted tweet was about an estate in his constituency, in which he wrote: “One kid lives in a crack den and another in a brothel. These are the kids that most need our help, extending free school meals doesn’t reach these kids.” The inference here seems to be that the vouchers are traded for drugs, though the MP claims the tweet has been taken out of context.  

Bradley offers absolutely no proof of this other than anecdote. There’s a good reason why no evidence is provided – there isn’t any. Just in case anyone didn’t get the message, Tory MP Mark Jenkinson followed up Bradley’s tweet with one of his own, saying: “I know in my constituency, tiny minority as it might be, food parcels are sold or traded for drugs.”

The inconvenient truth about child poverty is the staggering rise under the Conservative government’s watch over the last decade. The number of children affected has gone from 600,000 to 4.2 million, with no prospect of this growth being reversed.

Instead of using the opportunity to advocate for the families these MPs represent, they accused them of being dishonest. They could instead have offered to volunteer and distribute the increasingly generous food donations being made by companies and individuals. I don’t recall this type of criticism when their Conservative colleagues revealed their previous personal use of drugs like cocaine.

Most of the responses to the two MPs’ tweets highlighted how stigmatising it is for poorer families to suggest they would trade vouchers for drugs. It’s another example of blaming the poor and amplifying the idea that they are “benefit scroungers” or “immoral addicts”. For a government that claims to be guided by the science, a cursory glance at the evidence would show that overall use of drugs is in decline in these communities.

So far, neither MP has been able to provide evidence that such trading of vouchers and food parcels is widespread, but that is beside the point. This really isn’t about whether these vouchers are traded for drugs, rather, it’s a cynical attempt to deflect attention away from the government’s failure to halt the growth in child hunger in 2020.

Presumably, unlike the children these vouchers are aimed at, the MPs who voted earlier this week not to extend the scheme into the school holidays had full bellies at the time. Marcus Rashford has been dignified and effective in his campaign to ensure these children don’t go hungry during the school holidays. Unfortunately, this dignity hasn’t been matched by some politicians despite their duty to represent these children living in their constituencies.

The government’s fight with Rashford over child poverty looks odd and ill-judged. At best, it appears detached from reality and at worst uncaring. The government defends its refusal to extend the scheme on the basis that it has spent billions on universal credit and made funds available to local councils. The fact is, though, it hasn’t solved the problem and is unlikely to.

Politicians are using or rather abusing these groups to deflect attention away from their own failure to get a grip on child poverty. Poverty and child poverty, in particular, have to be one of the most basic and yet relatively easy issues to solve. Although it’s only a short-term solution, look at how business and the public have responded by donating meals, money and food. Still, this shouldn’t be something that’s left to individuals with a conscience, it requires state intervention. We bailed out the failing banking system with billions of pounds of taxpayers money, the austerity that followed created this growth in child poverty. But the government stubbornly refuses to find the estimated £24m to feed these children.

The real relationship between poverty and drugs is the disproportionate effect that drug use has on the least well off compared to the privileged. Recent office for national statistics data revealed that those living in the most deprived communities are up to five times more likely to die due to drug use than those living in affluent areas, another inconvenient truth casting a spotlight on the government’s failure to “level up”. If anything, all the evidence on poverty and drug-related fatalities point to a complete failure by the state to provide an effective strategy and policy aiming to reduce both, as both by any measure are rising to record levels.

Next to air and water, food is the most basic ingredient for survival, yet some of our politicians seem unwilling to even provide what’s essential. Unless a government understands and gets this right, how can we have any faith that they are capable of tackling some of the more challenging and complicated issues that we face?

Ian Hamilton lectures in mental health at the Department of Health Sciences, University of York