A bill to end term-time hunger for school children has received the backing of dozens of Christian MPs from different parties.
The bill, tabled by Christian Labour MP Frank Field, would place a duty on councils to automatically identify and register eligible children for free school meals. Recent estimates suggest 160,000 poor children in England are entitled but not registered to receive a free daily hot meal.
More than 125 MPs including numerous Christians from the Tories, Labour, SNP, DUP, SDLP and Greens have put their names to the free school meals (automatic registration of children) bill. The bill will be heard in the Commons today and aims to correct an anomaly whereby families have to apply for free school meals rather than be automatically enrolled.
It stems from a report published last week by the all-party group on hunger, which Field chairs. 'A route map to ending hunger as we know it in the United Kingdom' found a small group of local authorities using housing benefit records to identify families with children who were elgible but not registered. Once identified, the children were automatically enrolled with no need to complete a form unless they wished to opt out.
Field's 10 minute rule motion aims to make this practice a statutory duty on all councils.
An additional benefit for schools is that the pupil premium, a form of top-up funding, is directly linked to the number of children on free school meals.
"The policy of automatic registration for free school meals has delivered a win-win situation in those areas of the country that have been bold enough to embrace it," said Field ahead of the debate.
"By guaranteeing many more of our poorest children a hot meal every lunchtime during term time, the policy ensures substantial numbers of children need no longer struggle to concentrate on an empty stomach."
"My bill would make it their [councils'] duty to take it up and, in doing so, move us one step closer to abolishing child hunger in this country by 2020."
A number of Conservative Chrisians are backing the Labour MP's bill including Field's co-chair on the hunger group, John Glen. Others include David Burrowes, Fiona Bruce, Gary Streeter and Jeremy Lefroy. The bill also has support from a high number of Labour MPs including chair of Christians on the Left, Stephen Timms as well as fellow Christian Ben Bradshaw.
A full list of MPs backing today's bill is below:
Conservative
1. Andrew Bridgen
2. Andrew Rosindell
3. Anne-Marie Trevelyan
4. Bob Blackman
5. Christopher Chope
6. David Amess
7. David Burrowes
8. David Davis
9. Edward Leigh
10. Fiona Bruce
11. Flick Drummond
12. Gary Streeter
13. Graham Stuart
14. Glyn Davies
15. Heidi Allen
16. Henry Bellingham
17. Jeremy Lefroy
18. John Glen
19. Jonathan Djanogly
20. Kevin Foster
21. Martin Vickers
22. Nicholas Soames
23. Peter Bottomley
24. Philip Hollobone
25. Steve Baker
26. Stewart Jackson
27. Tim Loughton
Labour
28. Adrian Bailey
29. Alan Johnson
30. Alan Meale
31. Alex Cunningham
32. Alison McGovern
33. Andrew Gwynne
34. Andrew Smith
35. Angela Rayner
36. Ann Coffey
37. Barry Sheerman
38. Ben Bradshaw
39. Bill Esterson
40. Caroline Flint
41. Clive Betts
42. Colleen Fletcher
43. Dave Anderson
44. Derek Twigg
45. Diana Johnson
46. Emma Lewell-Buck
47. Emma Reynolds
48. Fiona Mactaggart
49. Gareth Thomas
50. Geoffrey Robinson
51. Gerald Kaufman
52. Gisela Stuart
53. Graham Allen
54. Graham Jones
55. Graham Stringer
56. Helen Hayes
57. Helen Jones
58. Iain Wright
59. Ian Austin
60. Ian Lavery
61. Ian Lucas
62. Ivan Lewis
63. Jess Phillips
64. Jenny Chapman
65. Jim Dowd
66. Jim Fitzpatrick
67. Jo Cox
68. Joan Ryan
69. John Mann
70. John Woodcock
71. Jon Cruddas
72. Jonathan Reynolds
73. Julie Cooper
74. Karen Buck
75. Karin Smyth
76. Kate Hollern
77. Kate Osamor
78. Keir Starmer
79. Keith Vaz
80. Kevin Barron
81. Liz Kendall
82. Liz McInnes
83. Louise Ellman
84. Madeleine Moon
85. Margaret Beckett
86. Margaret Greenwood
87. Marie Rimmer
88. Mary Creagh
89. Meg Hillier
90. Mike Wood
91. Nic Dakin
92. Pat Glass
93. Paul Farrelly
94. Peter Dowd
95. Peter Kyle
96. Robert Blackman-Woods
97. Robert Flello
98. Roger Godsiff
99. Ronnie Campbell
100. Rosie Cooper
101. Ruth Smeeth
102. Shabana Mahmood
103. Sharon Hodgson
104. Siobhain McDonagh
105. Simon Danczuk
106. Stella Creasy
107. Stephen Kinnock
108. Stephen Timms
109. Stephen Twigg
110. Steve McCabe
111. Steve Reed
112. Steve Rotheram
113. Thangam Debbonaire
114. Tulip Siddiq
115. Virendra Sharma
116. Wes Streeting
117. Yasmin Qureshi
118. Yvonne Fovargue
SNP
119. John Nicolson
DUP
120. Gavin Robinson
121. Jeffrey Donaldson
122. Jim Shannon
123. Sammy Wilson
SDLP
124. Mark Durkan
Green
125. Caroline Lucas
