The free school meals row should open up a debate about poverty itself | Jack Monroe

The public response is heartening. But why are so many falling into such desperate situations? Britain needs a plan of action

Some carefully neutral observers are keen to stress that children going hungry isn’t a political issue; but, 10 years on from the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition’s policy of callous cuts to social support to balance the banking bailouts, it’s clear this is one of the hottest political potatoes of our times.

Matt Hancock said today that he believes local councils are the most appropriate purse-holders to solve the complex tapestry of food poverty in England. This idea could be almost feasible, if only those same local councils weren’t holding their tapestries together with straining fingers and thin prayers. There are so many holes in what used to be a welfare safety net – deliberately and maliciously sabotaged rather than through natural wear and tear – that the health secretary’s thinking is akin to trying to catch whitebait in a whale net.

Related: After Marcus Rashford, cafes step in where Tories refuse to tread | Barbara Ellen

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