As the third-rate reality-show that is the Tory Psycho of the Year Competition plays out to an incredulous nation, thousands of volunteers are desperately trying to make sure that stressed families have food on their tables.
The continuing crisis was well articulated by food campaigner Jack Monroe: “In the 12 years of austerity, most support services have been effectively stripped away… People are petrified that they are not going to live through the winter.”
Gordon Brown spoke of “the unbearable burden of unpayable bills causing unspeakable suffering”.
To be clear: sky-rocketing energy prices are intensifying a crisis that, for millions, has existed for a decade. There is no resilience left.
Foodbanks remain one of the few support mechanisms for the the badly paid, poor, the sick, the disabled and, increasingly, the destitute.
Jacob (net worth 100m+ guineas) Rees-Mogg’s thoughts on foodbanks are well known (they are “rather uplifting”) but less familiar is the Tory decision in 2013 to turn down £22m from a European fund to develop foodbanks, the year that Universal Credit was introduced.
A decade later, The Trussell Trust says “the basic rates for benefits are at the lowest levels seen for at least 30 years”.
Over that time, the number has of foodbanks has exploded. An accurate figure is impossible as, shamefully, the government collects no statistics but it is estimated that there are 2,500+ – more than the combined number of McDonald's and Starbucks.
Trussell recently wrote an open letter pleading for an upgrade Universal Credit for those in and out of work to allow people a measure of “stability and security”. The trust’s figures for 2021-22 indicate that they distributed over two million three-day food parcels, offered "kettle packs" for people who only cook with a kettle (think Pot Noodles), sanitary products and, increasingly run school uniform banks.
No doubt Jacob will claim this growth and innovation as a result of our post-Brexit freedoms.
Last year, globe-trotter Johnson, in a fit of boosterism remarkable even for this Prozac PM, announced a wheeze to build a new royal yacht. Ben Wallace reckoned it could cost up to £250m.
During Covid we clapped for delivery drivers, nurses and public service workers, more and more of whom now rely on food banks.
Perhaps cancelling the yacht and putting the money into financial support for foodbanks would be a better way of showing appreciation?
David Winskill is a Crouch End-based campaigner.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here