Rationing in the United Kingdom was introduced at an early stage of World War II, and did not end completely until 1954.
This was largely because of the need to feed the population of European areas coming under British control, whose economies had been devastated by the fighting.
He contrasts this with a letter in The Guardian by Air Chief Marshal Sir Philip Joubert which states that on his return to Britain he found the children looking pallid and suety compared with the rosy-cheeked youngsters of Denmark and criticises those who would cut present British rations to give more to the Germans.
Orwell quotes extensively from the "Save Europe Now" material on the shortages of food and medicines in places like Austria and Czechoslovakia and Budapest and the breakdown of law and order among children, and reports that the voluntary scheme proposed was discouraged officially.
In conclusion Orwell argues that letting Germans go hungry would have the same effect as the punitive reparations after the First World War.