Local MP's Colburn & Scully Mislead the Public on Free School Meals Vote

Conservative MP’s Colburn and Scully have been caught misleading the public after their recent vote to not extend free meals. This follows on from Scully’s recent lies concerning TFL, compounding the issues felt by the electorate as their representatives twist the truth to justify their actions.

In template letters and statements on social media, Colburn and Scully highlight a £63m package given to councils and imply this is the relief intended for hungry children affected by the pandemic during the school holidays when they are no longer eligible for help.

In the Governments own guidance, the £63m funding is not designated to cover October food vouchers but instead is from July and described as being expected to be spent within 12 weeks, or by the 23rd September, a full month before the half term they claim it is to be used for. This information has been independently fact checked by Channel 4 and can still be seen on the governments guidance. MP’s Colburn & Scully however have remained steadfast in their use of this scheme as a defense of their voting or lack thereof despite the issues with its validity and the uproar by their local community who have engaged in peaceful protests to highlight the hypocrisy.

Puzzlingly in June, the Government felt that despite the universal credit uplift and £63million funding for councils which local MP’s have referred to, that the voucher scheme was needed. However, by October, the funding referenced by both local MP’s which was rolled out in July and which had already been used, lead the Conservative Government to assert the vouchers were no longer needed because of this lapsed funding, implying that the out of date funding was an excuse for their lack of voting.

One week of food vouchers for 1.4million hungry children would have cost half the price of one day of the eat out to help out scheme.