The government has been forced into a U-turn over free school meal provision during lockdown, and it has emerged that its guidance on what should be in food parcels is strikingly similar to images circulating on social media that the prime minister described as “unacceptable”.

Guidance written by the Department for Education suggests “general principles for putting together” parcels, and according to Labour it bears close resemblance to images seen on social media, including one loaf of bread, two potatoes, a tin of beans, three yoghurts and a bag of pasta.