‘Inequalities are literally killing people’ — Bethnal Green and Bow MP says government must go beyond providing free school meals

MP Rushanara Ali has called for governmental action to deal with the “deep-rooted causes” of inequality, arguing that such imbalances are “literally killing people”.

The representative for Bethnal Green and Bow was speaking at yesterday’s Opposite Day Debate, which came just after prime minister Boris Johnson performed a u-turn on providing free school meals during the summer.

In praising the efforts of footballer Marcus Rashford, Ms Ali criticised the government for being “dragged kicking and screaming” to this concession.

She condemned the lack of “instinct to protect those children”; adding that being pressured into a u-turn “shows a moral bankruptcy beyond belief”.

The MP used this opportunity to demand action beyond the continued provision of free meals, such as scrapping the two-child policy limit and dealing with city housing costs.

These are the issues that “condemn families to poverty”, said Ms Ali, with child hunger a symptom of that deprivation.