Marcus Rashford is very much the man of the moment. As well as scoring last minute goals in the Champion’s League group stage, he has caught the imagination of the nation with his Free School Meals campaign.

With his mum Melanie Rashford at his side, his campaign is so refreshing: it’s personal, authentic and heartfelt. It’s nothing like the ‘spray-paint’ campaigns that some celebrities adopt which can seem to be more about them than the cause they champion.

Most impressive has been the way that Marcus Rashford didn’t settle or bask in his achievement when he was awarded an MBE earlier this month. He used the additional publicity to further the campaign against child hunger.

Moreover, the demands he is making are clear, achievable and affordable: the expansion of the free school meals program, provision of meals and activities during school holidays, and an increase in value of Healthy Start vouchers.

In Watford, 1,877 pupils need free school meals this term. When term stops in December, the hunger starts, and this just isn’t good enough. No one has even tried to argue that letting kids go hungry over Christmas is acceptable. Yet Tory MPs, including Watford’s Dean Russell, voted to block Labour’s plan to extend free school meals until Easter 2021.

No wonder Marcus Rashford is in despair. The cost to the tax-payer is £60 million - a drop in the ocean when set against the new Government spending in 2020. Labour have pledged to force another vote in Parliament to extend free school meals, and Watford heroes Luther Blissett and Troy Deaney are backing Marcus Rashford. It’s time for the Tories to do the same.

Chris Ostrowski was the Labour parliamentary candidate for Watford in 2017 and 2019