FREE SCHOOL MEALS TO ALL UC FAMILIES

SAYS ZAYN MALIK

- LIZZY BUCHAN

FORMER One Direction star Zayn Malik has urged the Prime Minister to offer free school meals to hundreds of thousands more needy children in next week’s Autumn Statement.

The singer, 29, said they should be offered to all pupils from households receiving Universal Credit to stop parents having to make “impossible decisions like whether to buy food, turn on the heating or go into debt”.

Around 800,000 pupils living in poverty in England currently miss out due to strict eligibility rules.

In a heartfelt letter, Zayn told Rishi Sunak of his own experience of relying on free dinners growing up in Bradford, West Yorks.