Free school meals scandal shows Boris Johnson and co are worse than 'Thatcher the Milk Snatcher' – Hayley Matthews

The UK government should be ashamed of themselves if they think this is what a family can feed a child on for five days, it wouldn't keep a hamster satisfied.

The pitiful parcel was shared on a mother's Twitter page to demonstrate BoJo's efforts to support those in need. The contents, which resembled about a fiver’s worth of food, were an embarrassment to the company, Chartwells, who've been supplying them.

So, I'm not surprise that the UK government has U-turned and schools will be able to offer vouchers instead to all families in receipt of free school meals.

Sadly though the picture and many others like it show the harsh reality that many families across the UK are faced with, as low-income parents struggle to put food on the table for their wee ones during home-schooling.

It's been niggling away at me with the home schooling starting, worrying about all the kids who will go to bed with hunger pains in their tummy.

All I've been thinking about is how all those children will survive. The Tories are letting these families down and, call me cynical, but Paul Walsh, until last month the chairman of the Compass Group, which owns Chartwells, has apparently donated a lot of money to the Tories. What a co-incidence.

We can't ignore the outrageous levels of poverty in Scotland, especially among families with children. And before someone nippy starts to chip in that people shouldn't have kids if they can't feed them, you don't know anyone’s situation so no judging, please! “There but for the grace of god go I" and all that.

We have a massive poverty issue in Edinburgh alone with heartbreaking estimated figures that a huge 23 per cent of children are growing up in poverty.

There's nothing that haunts me more than the story I was told when working on the STV children's appeal of a child found eating toilet roll because they were so hungry. I just can't even let it register still.

So how do the people of Edinburgh who are facing rough times prevent their wee ones from going hungry whilst off school?

There is a lot of information on the www.edinburgh.gov.uk and food banks are also doing a wonderful job in the current climate. I just hope most can reach a food bank.

The food bank I donate to (when I can) has said how their uptake has skyrocketed, a very sad sign of the times.

So please, if we can, let's help kids and families who are living in poverty and donate a tin or two to the local food bank because these are harsh times and we should be looking out for the kids.

In the meantime, shame on BoJo and Dominic Blakemore, the chief executive of Compass.

I thought Maggie Thatcher was bad stopping school milk, but this lot in Westminster have trumped that! They're doing a better job at dishing out contracts to their pals and providing "jobs for the boys" than they are at serving up a decent parcel of sustenance for UK families in need.

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