Food Banks
Debate between Chris Ruane and Gerald Kaufman(10 years, 7 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Sir Gerald Kaufman
The hon. Gentleman is of course absolutely right.
The information provided for me by Tesco, which is conducting food banks in my constituency, tells the whole story. It refers to
“Tesco’s third National Food Collection”,
which means that within this Government’s period in office it has started to help to address food poverty, and to
“32,000 thousand shopping trolleys…the equivalent of 4.3 million meals.”
That is Britain today.
Sir Gerald Kaufman
Will my hon. Friend allow me to continue for just a moment?
In my constituency we have widespread poverty and deprivation. Today’s unemployment figures show that we are No. 42 for unemployment out of 650 constituencies. This has not come about by accident. It is the direct result of this Government’s policies: the deliberate creation of unemployment, the bedroom tax, which is causing so many people to suffer, the benefits cuts, and the housing shortage. My city has been hit hardest of all the major cities by the Government’s cuts. We are having redistribution from the poor to the affluent.