As rising food and energy bills grip families, the teenagers took over Westminster with their campaign splashing their message across bold digital screens driven through the capital.
Figures from June 2022 showed that 800,000 school age children in England are living in poverty, but are not deemed ‘poor’ enough to qualify for free school meals. As a result of the cost of living crisis this number is predicted to be much higher.
Luke, a 17-year-old Bite Back campaigner, said: “We came to Westminster because the Government isn’t listening to young people who have said time and time again that support with nutritious school food would make a massive difference to their health and wellbeing.
“More than a quarter of a million people have signed our petition, but the Government is ignoring us instead of taking action to support children and their families. It’s in the Government's interests to fix this and they have the power to do so. We want to sit down with the Chancellor and help him understand the massive difference extending school meals would make to health and futures.”
Research from Savanta found just 4% of young people aged between 16 and 21 agreed that the Government cares if they have enough healthy food to eat. While nearly one in five respondents (19%) reported seeing a peer go hungry at school, college or university because they weren’t able to afford lunch.
Zhainab, a Bite Back campaigner from Leeds, added: “We came to Westminster to make a stand and show the Government that we care about children’s rights. The Government needs to support the health of all children, because if they don’t they are failing to support the future of this country.”