Food poverty in Inverclyde on the rise

In the Greenock Telegraph today, I raised the issue of the increasing number of people in Inverclyde who are relying on food banks.

Analysing the local data from the Trussell Trust reveals how steep this increase has been. In just one year, the number of people relying on food banks in our area has increased by nearly 79%. Appallingly, the number of food parcels handed to children increased by 90%.

As I wrote earlier in the week when the nationwide figures were revealed, it is appalling that in a rich country we have anyone who has to rely on a food bank to get by.

These statistics lay bare the impact that the Tories’ rollout of Universal Credit has had and the extent of suffering that benefit delays have caused. But it has also shown that people in worked are being forced to rely on charity because poor wages just don’t go far enough.

This needs to be a wake up call for anyone who thinks that food poverty is a marginal issue. Thousands of people in Inverclyde are living week to week or even day to day, struggling to make ends meet. It’s time that we realised the toxic mix of the Tory’s austerity policies and low paid, insecure work have led us to this place.