A caller from Yorkshire has hit out at Marcus Rashford’s calls for free school meals to be extended over the holidays. Kath insisted “it's time people got off the backside and went out to work” as she said parents should not rely on the Government to feed their children when not in school. The rant came after Chancellor Rishi Sunak rejected the Manchester United footballer’s call to extend the Government’s free school meal programme.

The caller phoned in to voice her opposition to demands for schools to provide free meals to pupils during the holidays, noting her parents had been tasked with sourcing her food when she was not in school.

Guest Henry Bonsu said: “But you know, we can't go back to how things were sixty years ago when you were a child.

“The country has changed.”

Kath replied: "It’s not the case of going back.

protesters demand free school meals for disadvantaged children

"It's a case of pulling this country out of being plastered ‘benefit Britain’.

“It's time people got off the backside and went out to work."

She continued: "What's wrong with the people on benefits?

“This concept has come to be known as Benefit Britain.”

The comment had host Claudia-Liza Vanderpuije ask: “Was it harder?

“Was it harder for your parents in the summer holidays when you were a kid for them to provide for you when you were at home?”

Kath said: “Well, yes, of course, it was because we weren’t getting school meals when we were at school.

“But the thing is, it's not the government and I'll tell you this, we didn't have food banks then.”

UK Business's Step Up to Support Marcus Rashford's Fight To End Child Food Poverty

The host said: “I thought your parents would have needed them.

“I'm sure your parents might have made use of food banks.

Marcus Rashford has called on the chancellor to commit more funding to free meals over the school holidays.

However, Mr Sunak rejected the demand, telling The Andrew Marr Show: “We put in place some measures to help families during coronavirus, that was the right thing to do, and in common with the other things that have now come to an end...

"That’s right that we’ve transitioned to a more normal way of doing things.”