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Those supporting MP Frank Fields bill includes the treasury select committee chair Nicky Morgan and the chair of the 1922 committee of Conservative MPs, Graham Brady.

Other high-profile Tories who gave the bill their backing included former London mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith and former cabinet minister Oliver Letwin.

If successful, the bill would place a legal duty on local authorities to ensure the provision of free meals and activities during the half term.

Last month, food bank operator The Trussell Trust urged the government to take action following its revelation that food supplies rose significantly during last year’s holidays with with 67,506 three-day emergency food supplies distributed in July and August 2016, compared with 63,094 in the previous months – an increase of more than 4,000.

Field told the Guardian: “If the prime minister were to pick up this bill and run with it, at nil extra cost to the government, she would tackle overnight one of the great injustices afflicting children in this country – a widening of inequalities at school caused by a lack of food during the holidays.”