Thirsk and Malton MP Kevin Hollinrake says 'of course I don't want children to go hungry' after Marcus Rashford row

Thirsk and Malton MP Kevin Hollinrake came under fire over the weekend when he wrote in Twitter that it was "a parents' job to feed their children".

He originally tweeted about the success of the government's Eat Out to Help Out scheme. One user replied asking why it took a footballer to stand up for hungry children, prompting his remark.

Manchester United player Marcus Rashford, who successfully campaigned for free school meal vouchers to be provided to pupils over the summer period, said the MP should talk to families before commenting.

"To this day I haven't met one parent who hasn't wanted or felt the responsibility to feed their children," Mr Rashford said.

"Put to the side that this comment came from an MP. It's comments like this that prevent people from speaking their truth and asking for help. We need to start uplifting each other."

Mr Hollinrake had previously declined to comment further, but said in a statement released to The Yorkshire Post: "Of course, I do not want to see children go hungry and I am not against making parts of our welfare system more generous and have often argued for this in Parliament.

"However, this must be set in the context of the need to increase taxes if we want to do that.

"I also believe that we need to trust our citizens and that welfare should be paid directly to those in need so that they can decide how to spend it, rather than the Government dictating how it is spent through an inevitably bureaucratic voucher system."

Manchester United and England striker Rashford was successful in campaigning for free school meal vouchers to be provided to pupils over the summer period.

He has now teamed up with Aldi, Asda, Co-op, Deliveroo, FareShare, Food Foundation, Iceland, Kellogg's, Lidl, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose to form the Child Food Poverty Task Force, which is endorsing three national policy recommendations.

Charity FareShare Yorkshire thanked the footballer for "shining a light on this important issue". It wrote on Twitter: "FareShare supplies over 370 projects across Yorkshire - and, in Ryedale alone, we’ve delivered enough food for over 28,000 meals for families and individuals since May".

Among those who replied to Mr Hollinrake's original tweet was the chief executive of First Days Children's Charity, Emma Cantrell.

She said the MP's comment was typical of the "type of ignorance that we encounter every day" and added: "We have also not come across a single parent who isn't desperate to provide everything their children need."