Keir Starmer issued 'crossroads' warning after food bank use skyrockets

Food bank charity the Trussell Trust joined The Division Bell podcast to emphasise the urgent need for the government to act in response to increasing levels of poverty

The government is at “a crossroads” as food bank provision has skyrocketed over the last five years, according to the leading food poverty charity.

The Trussell Trust has provided 2.9 million emergency food parcels in the last year - a 51% increase since 2020.

Since slashed the welfare budget in March, 250,000 people in the UK risk being pushed into poverty including 50,000 children. Sumi Rabindrakumar, Head of Policy at Trussell, knows this far too well as in the past 12 months alone over one million parcels have been provided for children.

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Ms Rabindrakumar said: “The Government needs to choose now to decide whether it's going to change course because otherwise by the end of this parliament realistically we're going to see food need rising. If you look at the cuts on the horizon in social security, inflation and high costs not really showing signs of easing, we can't see that this situation is going to get better.”

Speaking on the Division Bell podcast, the policy expert emphasised the charity’s “priority [is] for the government to pause and reflect and rethink on the cuts to disability support.”

“Three in four people who come to Trussell food banks are disabled or who live with someone who is, there isn't a situation where these cuts are anything other than devastating," she said.

After ’s U-turn yesterday regarding making more pensioners eligible for winter fuel payments, Ms Rabindrakumar said: “They have to make a decision about which way they go down because the decisions they make over the next year are the ones that will have an effect by the end of this parliament. You can't turn it around overnight. They need to start making a change now.”

The welfare bill is expected to be cut by approximately £5billion a year. Around 370,000 people currently receiving welfare could lose out after changes to Personal Independence Payments (PIP).

“PIP isn't an out-of-work benefit,” Ms Rabindrakumar explained, “work isn’t at the moment a reliable enough route out of hunger and hardship.”

“About one in five people who are referred to Trussell food banks are in work. We know that that in itself isn't going to be enough to move people out of deep poverty. That’s the reason why the social security system is so vital. It provides protection for people who have to take lower-paid work to afford the essentials, put food on the table, afford clothes, afford their and so on.”

Ms Rabindrakumar emphasised that the welfare cuts “affect us all” because severe levels of hardship have many impacts including “driving up negative impacts on people's health, by pushing people further from work, that affects our public services, it affects our economy, it affects public finances. These cuts don't just have a cost to people, it affects us and costs us all.”

To hear more about the UK’s reliance on food banks, Mr Starmer’s U-turn and the inside scoop on Westminster, be sure to listen to this episode of The Division Bell wherever you get your podcasts.

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