Children shouldn’t be going to school hungry, says Lord Lebedev in maiden Lords speech

THE “surge in hunger” during the Covid pandemic has been highlighted by Lord Lebedev in Parliament as he gave a personal pledge to take action to deliver more healthy food to vulnerable people.

Making his maiden speech in the House of Lords, the crossbench peer said: “Perhaps it does need an outsider to say this: we are a rich country and children should not be going to school hungry.”

He called for an end to “the filthy practice” of the illegal wildlife trade, which he identified as a major threat to human health and potential cause of another pandemic. The journalist and campaigner, who owns the Evening Standard and Independent, also vowed to be a champion of free speech, saying it was

“under assault”. Speaking in a Queen’s Speech debate on health and the economy, Lord Lebedev said poor health and nutrition was one of the reasons Britain had experienced “one of the worst death tolls in the world” from Covid-19. “I found one of the bleakest impacts of the virus to be the surge in hunger,” he said. “This week, one in nine children sat in lessons with an empty stomach, according to latest data.”

Pledging to “play my part in building a healthier nation”, he told peers how the Standard was in partnership with The Felix Project charity to open “the largest social kitchen in central London this summer to offer tens of thousands of fresh, nutritious meals daily to vulnerable people across London”.

He urged: “We have learned this over the past year — our health policy is part of the national security of our nation.”

The Felix kitchen, staffed by professional chefs supported by volunteers, will deliver 1,000 meals a day for school children and families over the summer holidays, then scale up to at least 6,000 meals, or 1.5 million meals in a year.

Lord Lebedev, a patron of Space for Giants, said one of the big questions raised by the pandemic was how to prevent it happening again — and made a passionate call to ban the illegal wildlife trade that scientists have identified as a potential cause.

“This filthy practice brings foreign species and germs together in close proximity with humans,” he said.

Lord Owen, the former foreign secretary, congratulated Lord Lebedev on his maiden speech. “We wish to hear more from him,” he said.