Footballer Marcus Rashford has chipped in to the row about pupils, whose parents have run up a debt, being denied school meals at an Arfon school.

A letter to parents at Ysgol Dyffryn Nantlle in Penygroes said “the cook has been instructed not to give food to any child from November 22nd if the debt has not cleared”.

The move has been made because of a deficit in the school’s meal budget, which led to the discovery that “a handful of pupils had run up debts totalling more than £1,800”.

Manchester United and England strike Rashford, a campaigner for giving disadvantaged children free meals over school holiday, had his say on twitter.

He said: “Has the pandemic not taught us anything? Can we not be understanding? Come on now…”