MORE than 10,000 people in Oxfordshire have signed footballer Marcus Rashford's petition to end child poverty.

The petition calls for the Government to support vulnerable children and end child food poverty by expanding access to "Free School Meals, provide meals and activities during holidays to stop holiday hunger and increase the value of and expand the Healthy Start scheme".

Throughout the county's six constituencies, 10,377 people have signed the petition so far. 

Read here: These are the places offering free school meals around Oxfordshire 

This is how many people have signed the petition in each constituency: 

  • Oxford East: 1,993
  • Oxford West and Abingdon: 1,897
  • Henley: 1,538 
  • Witney: 1,605
  • Wantage: 1,762
  • Banbury and North Oxford: 1,582

This means less than two per cent of constituents in each constituency have signed the petition. 

Read here: Over 10,000 kids in Oxfordshire are eligible for free meals

Nationwide 897,901 people have signed the petition.

Marcus Rashford and Child Poverty Taskforce are calling for the Government to allocate money to help end child poverty and hunger. 

The three things the petition asks the Government to do are: 

  1. Expanding free school meals under-16s where a parent or guardian is in receipt of Universal Credit or equivalent benefit

2. Provide meals & activities during all holidays
3. Increase the value of Healthy Start vouchers to at least £4.25 per week and expand the scheme.

You can sign the petition here. 

Read also: Free school meals: How did Oxfordshire MPs vote? 

This week Labour leaders from across Oxfordshire said the Government has 'shamefully failed our children in need' by not providing free school meals during the holidays. 

They called on the county's Tory MPs to reconsider their position and suggested the county council followed in the footsteps of the Labour led Oxford city council by 'supporting children with school meals voucher scheme'.

Read more about this here: Oxfordshire Labour leaders make statement about free school meals

Across Oxfordshire, more than 10,000 children are eligible for free school meals.