I READ with interest Elizabeth Smith’s letter of November 19.

Sadly there isn’t space in the paper to explain the principle of morals to someone who dismisses children as a ‘special interest group’, so I shall simply look at her main two points.

First the principle of who is responsible for children.

I am sure parents would agree; it is them. But perhaps Mrs Smith hasn’t read the news since March. Unemployment is rising rapidly. Redundancies too, then you’ve those on furlough who have lost a big chunk of their income.

People who have never claimed before are having to wait five or more weeks for universal credit payments.

These are terrible times. There are parents who would love to be able do more, but can’t. And even for those minority of parents who have made the wrong choices, not providing these meals would just mean punishing children for political purposes. Time to research morality, again.

Then there is the cost. £20m is what these half-term vouchers cost. That is a fraction of the £500m that “eat out to help out” cost, which was a driver of the second wave that is now threatening more jobs!

That itself is a fraction of the £17bn wasted on “cash for pals” PPE contracts.

And that is a crumb compared to the cost of vanity projects like HS2 and Brexit.

And yet Mrs Smith has chosen as her axe to grind a minuscule sum for deprived children.

To have people arguing against feeding children is not a good situation, morally or politically, for this country to be in.

There is enough money out there but it is in the wrong places.

To improve this country and its inequalities there is one thing everyone can do.

Never vote Tory again.

Jamie Hunn

Chipping Sodbury