Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford has pledged he is only at the beginning of a long campaign to end child food poverty and his bid to make sure the next generation start life with a level playing field.

England international Rashford has seen his profile raised on and off the field during the Covid-19 pandemic, with the 23-year-old awarded an MBE during October in the delayed Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

Rashford successfully lobbied the Government into a U-turn over its free school meals policy in England during the first coronavirus lockdown, ensuring children in need would receive food over the summer.

Rashford grew up just five miles away from Old Trafford in Wythenshawe and feels such a strong association with the club helped shape his determination to succeed.

“Never giving up is something that when you are in United’s academy, they give it to you from then,” said the United striker, who scored twice on his Premier League debut against Arsenal at Old Trafford in February 2016.

“As someone who has been there from five or six years old, it is just kind of engrained into your personality, the way you are on and off the pitch really.

“It is just in whatever you do – if I am losing in something or something is not quite going right, I just want to keep going until I get better at it or start to win.

“I have been like that since I was a kid and it is from United where you grow that determination.”