Debates between Rachel Reeves and Lyn Brown during the 2010-2015 Parliament

Wed 18th Dec 2013

Food Banks

Debate between Rachel Reeves and Lyn Brown
Wednesday 18th December 2013

(10 years, 11 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Rachel Reeves Portrait Rachel Reeves
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Yes, and although my hon. Friend refers to the festive period, for many it will not be festive at all.

A fortnight ago a young women with an 18-month-old daughter came to see me in my constituency. She had left her ex-husband to escape domestic violence but was worried sick because the benefits office had cut off her benefits when her ex-husband falsely claimed to have custody of her child. She has been waiting for weeks without any support while it fails to rectify the mistake. Without the food banks in my constituency, run by St George’s Crypt, St Bartholomew’s church in Armley and the Trussell Trust, that woman and her daughter would have gone without food. She has been badly let down by this Government and by their delays and sanctions.

Lyn Brown Portrait Lyn Brown
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The food banks in my constituency, which currently number at least six, tell me that people go without food for three months before turning up to ask for help. Is that not an indictment of the Conservative party?

Rachel Reeves Portrait Rachel Reeves
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That is a really important point, but some Government Members and Ministers have suggested that people go to food banks because the food is free. The welfare reform Minister, Lord Freud, says that there is an almost infinite demand for that but, as my hon. Friend points out, people have real pride and are ashamed to go to food banks. As my hon. Friend the Member for Newport East (Jessica Morden) said, those are sad stories and real lives.