Marcus Rashford: Receives MBE on The Queen’s birthday honours list for fighting child hunger

The Manchester United forward, campaigned for the government to allow about 1.3 million children to claim free school meal vouchers in England’s summer holidays during the coronavirus pandemic.

Rashford continued his campaign by establishing a taskforce with some of the UK’s biggest food brands to try to help reduce child food poverty.

MBE is an order of the British Empire award and

on being honored by the Queen, Rashford said;

“I’m incredibly honoured and humbled. As a young black man from Wythenshawe, never did I think I would be accepting an MBE, never mind an MBE at the age of 22. This is a very special moment for myself and my family, but particularly my mum who is the real deserving recipient of the honour. The fight to protect our most vulnerable children is far from over. I would be doing my community, and the families I have met and spoken with, an injustice if I didn’t use this opportunity to respectfully urge the Prime Minister, who recommended me for this honour, to support our children during the October half term with an extension of the voucher scheme, as the furlough scheme comes to an end and we face increased unemployment. Another sticking plaster, but one that will give the parents of millions of children in the UK just one less thing to worry about. Let’s stand together in saying that no children in the UK should be going to bed hungry. As I have said many times before, no matter your feeling or opinion, not having access to food is NEVER the child’s fault.”

The Queen’s Birthday Honours list was originally scheduled to be published in June, but it was postponed by the prime minister to allow nominations of people who played crucial roles during the first months of the coronavirus pandemic.