John, last week Conservatives MPs voted down Labour's motion that would have seen free school meals extended over the school holidays, a measure that would have benefitted more than 1.4 million children and their families.

Since then, Conservative MPs have doubled down by ramping up irresponsible rhetoric that is fuelling dangerous misunderstandings about the challenges that children growing up in poverty are facing in our country.

Just some of the incredibly insensitive comments from Conservative MPs included Ben Bradley MP claiming, in a tweet that has since been deleted, that the provision of free school meal vouchers over the summer amounted to "£20 cash direct to a crack den and a brothel”, and Selaine Saxby, Conservative MP for North Devon, who criticised businesses in her area for providing free meals over the holidays.

I have been heartened to see the response from communities and councils across the country who have stepped in where the government has failed to act. You can find your nearest business offering free meals for children over the holidays by clicking the button below.

The last Labour government set clear targets to end child poverty by 2020, but in the last year it has risen, with projections that it will continue to rise as a result of the pandemic.

Labour will not give up on the fight to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry. That's why Labour has made clear that it will force another Commons vote on the extension of free school meals over the holidays if the government does not change its policy before the Christmas recess.

Last week, I visited Lordswood Girls' School in Harborne which is set to spend £72,000 on measures designed to make it Covid-secure for its 1,000 staff and students by the end of the academic year. This is despite not having the money in its current budget nor any reserves to dip into, and not having received any additional funding from the government.

As a result of Covid-19, the school has had to implement a number of safety measures including increasing its cleaning regime, buying PPE, Perspex screens and hand sanitiser, adapting classrooms by removing and storing excess furniture to allow for socially-distanced learning and hiring outside toilet blocks to reduce the number of students using the same facilities.

The government guidance states, however, that no school will receive any additional funding to enable them to reopen, despite the large sums of money needed to make schools safe for students.

Research from the National Foundation for Educational Research has found that schools could be spending hundreds of millions of pounds to address the costs of coronavirus in their schools.

Budgets will be pushed to breaking point if schools are forced to meet the costs of the coronavirus themselves, with many looking outside of their budgets to find the money needed to make schools a safe place for staff and students.

Schools are still feeling the impact of more than a decade of cuts, so being forced to meet the costs of making their sites Covid-secure is adding yet further pressure to already stretched budgets. The Chancellor must not go back on his word, and should do whatever it takes to support schools in these exceptional times.