Food Poverty and Insecurity

I am concerned by the increasing number of people experiencing food poverty and insecurity and that many people are suffering great anxiety about food bills. The situation of rising costs is serious, hitting UK households hard who cannot afford to be squeezed any further.

I know the Food Foundation estimated in April 2022 that 7.3 million adults and 2.6 million children were facing food insecurity. These are sobering numbers and I fear they will worsen, including the numbers of people who will need to rely on food banks. Although I am grateful to food banks, it cannot be right that this nation needs them to feed people. We should be looking to put them out of business by ensuring they are no longer required.

Meanwhile, over 13.6 million tonnes of food are wasted every year in the UK, also incurring a significant carbon cost. This is a scandal while millions go hungry.

I believe business as usual for our food industry is not an option. In my view, the Government must take bolder, faster action to tackle the problem of food waste if we are to achieve UN Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 on halving global food waste at retail and consumer levels by 2030. It should look at how other countries report surpluses and waste, as our current system clearly does not work. Clearly, organisations like FareShare have their part to play in this.

Earlier this year, the Government published Part Two of the National Food Strategy, recommending a statutory duty for all large food companies to publish an annual report containing figures on food waste. I believe the Government’s delayed food strategy is a statement of vague intentions, lacking concrete proposals to tackle the major issues.

More widely, I am troubled by the Government’s lack of control over the current economic situation, causing higher interest rates, higher inflation and higher borrowing. I do not believe recent measures were taken to support working people.

I am committed to ending the food bank scandal, access to healthy, affordable and sustainable food for families and improvements to our national food security. I can assure you I will continue to call for urgent action to tackle food insecurity and to reduce food waste.