Food Banks
Debate between Kim Johnson and Seamus Logan(2 days, 20 hours ago)
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Seamus Logan
I agree with my hon. Friend. Poverty can be an incredibly isolating experience, with people becoming more and more withdrawn as money weighs heavily on their mind in all waking hours.
Kim Johnson (Liverpool Riverside) (Lab)
I congratulate the hon. Member on securing this important and timely debate. I am sure he would agree that the recent damning data on poverty from the Social Metrics Commission is both unacceptable and unjustifiable. Ours is the sixth richest economy in the world but a quarter of the UK population—16 million people—live in poverty. The statistics are alarming but, according to the End Child Poverty coalition, the quickest and easiest way to relieve these increasing problems is to remove the two-child cap. Does he agree that the Government need to remove the cap sooner rather than later?
Seamus Logan
The hon. Member makes a powerful point; I completely agree, and I will refer to that later.
A quick chat with a volunteer can provide vital reassurance to those who need to use a food bank that they are not alone and that support is out there. I would like to share some brief testimony from those who have used the Aberdeenshire North food bank. One person said:
“The volunteers were fantastic, offering a chat and a shoulder to cry on. I suffer from depression as well and without the foodbank I don’t think I would be here today”.
That was from a former police officer who suffered delays to his employment support allowance and incurred significant costs associated with his transport. A local single parent who was forced to reduce her working hours after her child fell ill said:
“The people at the foodbank were wonderful, they understood and saved us.”