In my constituency of Aberdeenshire North and Moray East, communities are facing temperatures of up to -6 this week with yellow warnings for snow and ice. There will be many households having to make the impossible choice between heating their homes or eating, unable to provide warm, nutritious meals as a result. Some of them will go without so their children can eat and stay warm, others will access one of the many local foodbanks that have sprung up across the country providing an essential service and support to those in need.
Many of my constituents will be turning to foodbanks such as Aberdeenshire North based in Peterhead and Fraserburgh which distributed 10,000 food parcels last year as part of the Trussell Trust network across the UK. This foodbank, like so many others, is run by an incredible team of volunteers who give not just their time and effort to help people but provide a powerful sense of community and support to those isolated and marginalised by poverty and food insecurity.
Of course, it wasn’t always like this. Before 2010, foodbanks were few and far between; fourteen years later they are very much a part of our society, with The Trussell Trust distributing 3.12 million emergency food parcels in 2023/24, representing a shocking 94% increase from just five years prior, with 1.1 million of these parcels distributed for children.
These figures are appalling and should be raising alarm bells in the corridors of Westminster. This is why I arranged my ‘Ending the Use of Foodbanks’ debate this week, to highlight how policy makers can bring about a reduction if not an elimination in the need for foodbanks, through a progressive and socially just approach.
Fortunately, there are plenty of informed suggestions and blueprints for the seeds of success not too far from the House of Commons. At Holyrood, the Scottish Government have already introduced a raft of policies which have contributed to a reduction in food poverty such as free school meals and the Scottish Child Payment, described as a “game changer” by leading charities. Even policies which do not directly provide financial support towards food provision can still reduce food poverty significantly by providing households with breathing space and the ability to dedicate more money to buying healthy food, such as the Scottish Government’s Best Start Grant package for helping parents and carers on low incomes with the costs of having a child.
Holyrood is also looking at introducing a social tariff for the most vulnerable to pay less on energy bills, which could be transformative in terms of poverty and would stop people choosing between heating and eating.
Meanwhile, the Trussell Trust and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation have proposed an Essentials Guarantee to ensure that social security payments should never fall below the amount needed to afford essentials such as food and household bills. They estimate these essentials to cost over £120 per week – with the basic rate of Universal Credit at £91 per week, there is currently a £29 gap, a discrepancy the Chancellor should be examining ahead of her next Budget.
A more robust social safety net such as implementing a statutory living wage and dismantling catastrophic austerity measures brought in by the Tories should be another focus for this new Labour Government. After all, back in 2019, the UN’s Special Rapporteur for Extreme Poverty, Philip Alston, described austerity as causing “the systematic immiseration” of the British population and creating “19th century workhouse” conditions. If Labour’s pledge to bring “change” means anything, surely this is a good place to start as it’s only got worse since Mr Alston made his devastating assessment.
The upcoming review into Universal Credit is another golden opportunity to make good on Labour’s manifesto commitments. Taking a leaf out of the Scottish Government’s book and rolling out free school meals and access to food during school breaks would be a step in the right direction as well as empowering local communities with “dignified” food aid models moving beyond the traditional charity style approach. Affordable food clubs, social supermarkets and community kitchens would also address isolation and bolster community strength.
Given the staggering levels of hardship and hunger facing so many across the UK something has got to give. Starmer can talk about growth all he likes but you can’t get growth when children are skipping meals and living in destitution. What does it say about us as a nation if we can’t feed out children?
Our ultimate goal should be a society where foodbanks are obsolete, replaced by robust social and economic structures that guarantee access to nutritious and affordable food. I intend to make sure the Government are listening to these solutions because “change” needs to be so much more than a slogan.
The Government must guarantee access to nutritious and affordable food
