Almost 96,000 people collected three days emergency food aid from a London food bank in the last financial year.
Almost 96,000 people collected three days emergency food aid from a London food bank in the last financial year
The number of people being fed by food banks in London has more than doubled since last year, according to new figures from the Trussell Trust.
Almost 96,000 people collected three days emergency food aid from a London food bank in the last financial year, up from 42,000 in 2012-13.
Across the country 913,138 people received three days’ emergency food from Trussell Trust food banks in 2013-14, compared to 346,992 in 2012-13. According to the chairman of the Trussell Trust Chris Mould these figures represent the “tip of the iceberg”.
Commenting on the figures for the capital, Mould called on the government to do more to tackle the “crisis”:
“The point in London is that we have seen very strong drivers pushing people into food poverty and the most obvious is the cost of rent,” he said.
“London also has one of the highest rates of child poverty in the country. When a mum and dad have not got enough money to put food on the table then their children go hungry.”
Former Tory MP Edwina Currie was roundly criticised last year for claiming that food bank users were spending all their money on tattoos and dog food.
Earlier this year Left Foot Forward also discovered that the government was citing out-of-date figures in an attempt to wriggle out of its responsibility for the growth in food banks.
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