MPs, many of whom voted against extending free school meals for hungry children, are themselves entitled to free meals during work
A petition has been created which is calling for an end to the subsidisation of meals for members of parliament, following the decision by Tory MPs to vote against the extension of free school meals for the United Kingdom’s most vulnerable children.
As much as £57,000 of taxpayer money is spent weekly paying for the food and drink of MPs, according to the latest figures. The average basic salary for an MP is currently just under £82,000.
The hypocrisy surrounding this has been brought up by many, and has led to the creation of the petition on 38degrees, which currently has more than 125,000 signatures.
MPs, earning between £77k-150k, have their meals subsidised in Parliament.
In 2018, subsidising food cost the *taxpayer* £4.4 million
Sorry, kids.
— Ava-Santina (@AvaSantina) October 22, 2020
A glance at the menu from the Members’ Dining Room, which is publicly available to view, shows astonishingly cheap prices, especially for people earning a salary so high above the national average of £29,600.
Among the many incredibly deals on offer for our hardworking includes a chargrilled ribeye steak with hand cut chips, tomato, mushroom and Béarnaise sauce, for the low, low price of less than a tenner.
In fact, all of the mains are less than £10 due to the subsidies paid for by the constituents of MPs up and down the country.
The decision of Tory MPs to allow children to go hungry has been met with anger by many in the UK, but has also provoked an inspiring response from many.
On Friday morning, footballer and child food poverty campaigner Marcus Rashford was widely sharing notices of UK businesses volunteering to feed hungry kids after the government refused to do so.
