The Trussell Trust supplies 600,000 emergency parcels in nine months

New figures released by the Trussell Trust show that the food bank charity provided emergency parcels containing three days food more than 600,000 times between April and December last year.

Food banks

New figures released by the Trussell Trust show that the food bank charity provided emergency parcels containing three days food more than 600,000 times between April and December last year.  This is more than in the whole of the preceding financial year.

The charity also released poll results showing that 70 per cent of voters want the government to take action on the issue of hunger, and that 50 per cent of families have cut back on food in the previous year in order to pay bills.

This comes as Tories such as Lord Freud have been making derogatory remarks about those who have to use food banks. Lord Freud said that it was “very hard to know why” people used food banks.

There was also the incident during a Commons debate on food banks in December, in which Tory MPs laughed and jeered at a description by Labour MP Fiona MacTaggart of hard-up shoppers fighting over discounted supermarket products.

Talking about the debate, Labour MP Barry Gardiner said that it was “extraordinary” to see Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith smirking as it was mentioned that half a million people are using food banks. IDS left the Commons chamber after an hour and did not answer questions, leaving this task to his deputy Esther McVey. He also accused the Trussell Trust of “scaremongering“.

In a further example of Tory insensitivity on this issue, Tory MEPs voted against the creation of a £3 million EU fund accessible to food banks in the European Parliament last month.

But now even Policy Exchange, a right-wing think tank with links to leading Tories, has been voicing criticism of the government’s approach. Their new report Smarter Sanctions: Sorting out the system finds that 68,000 people on Jobseeker’s Allowance have their benefits taken away by mistake every year, and that this has contributed to the rise in the number of people using food banks.

2 Responses to “The Trussell Trust supplies 600,000 emergency parcels in nine months”

  1. Fiona Collins

    I would wipe that smirk right off his face… with a shovel! I am now living on NO INCOME, because of a mistake made by this little Nazi’s employees…. 5 weeks already! Thank goodness for foodbanks, it’s not doing my health much good, so sort of defeats the object?

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