THOUSDANDS of children in Trafford will go hungry over the summer holidays.

Kate Green, MP for Stretford and Urmston has warned that almost 4,000 children in the area are at risk as families don’t have enough money to make ends meet. She said the worst affected will be those who will not be able to access the free school meals that they were entitled to during school term time.

Kate said: “It is unacceptable that so many children are at risk of going hungry in our community.

“Child poverty is at a seven year high, and wages are falling, leaving working families worse off."

Across the North West almost 200,000 children will be going hungry without their free school meal. Half a million children in the region are growing up in poverty and are also at risk.

New data by Trussell Trust, a UK foodbank network, has shown that the reliance on food banks during the summer has increased. 47 per cent of food parcels that went to children were those of primary school age.

Samantha Stapley, Operations Manager for England at The Trussell Trust, said:

“Over a third of all the food distributed by foodbanks in our network consistently goes to children, but these new figures show 5 to 11 year-olds are more likely than other children to receive a foodbank’s help.

“This highlights just how close to crisis many families are living. We can all make a difference – checking which food your local foodbank is running low on and donating to make sure emergency food is available when people are referred to help is a simple and effective way to get involved. You could be helping a family that lives on your street.”