The MP for Cleethorpes has rejected plans to extend free school meals over the holidays.
Grimsby's MP, Lia Nici, did not vote on the matter.
Last updated 22nd Oct 2020
The MP for Cleethorpes, Martin Vickers, has voted against free school meals being extended over the school holidays.
4,894 children in North Lincolnshire are eligible for free school meals.
Labour called for the provision of hot food for children to carry on until Easter 2021, however the motion was defeated by a majority of 61.
Leading the vote, Labour’s shadow education secretary Kate Green said more than 1.4 million children benefit from free school meals nationally.
Almost 900,000 of those eligible were now in areas subject to tougher COVID-19 restrictions, she added.
“In the summer, when this issue was debated in this House, the government saw sense, did the right thing and ensured that no child would go hungry over the summer holidays,” she said.
“This time, however, despite many families facing even more challenging circumstances now than they did four months ago, shamefully the government are walking away from their obligation to hungry children.”
Her counterpart, education secretary Gavin Williamson, however, said the government was in a different position.
“Free school meals are and always have been about supporting children with a meal to help them when they’re at school or currently at home learning,” he said.
“But it is our support through universal credit and our comprehensive welfare system that supports families.”