Thu 25 Apr 2019 15.19 BST
Last modified on Thu 25 Apr 2019 17.58 BST
It is 2019, and the UK is one of the wealthiest countries in the world. But today’s figures released by the Trussell Trust show that more than 1.6 million emergency food parcels were given to people going hungry across the UK last year.
This country is home to 145 billionaires, yet food banks for the poorest are becoming the norm. Today’s Britain is far from fit for the 21st century.It is marked by soaring child poverty, poor housing and rising homelessness.
Last year was the busiest year for food banks in the Trussell Trust’s network since the charity opened. Over the last five years, the number of food parcels given out across the UK has rocketed by 73%.
Responsibility for this increase lies firmly at the door of nine years of austerity. Devastating cuts to social security, social care and local services have left more and more people with no other option but to turn to charity.
More than almost any other group in society, disabled people have been forced to bear the brunt of austerity.
Cuts to social security, a cruel work capability assessment (WCA) and punitive sanctions regime have pushed many disabled people to the brink. Every week, I hear heartbreaking accounts of people going hungry or unable to heat their homes, having been denied social security or sanctioned for missing a job centre appointment. This is sadly unsurprising, given that spending on social security for disabled people has shrunk by £5bn in the last decade, and more than a million social security sanctions have been imposed on disabled people since 2010.
It follows that half of all people at food banks are from households that have one disabled family member.
The social security system is supposed to protect people from poverty. But it is in fact pushing them closer to it. There is no starker example of this than universal credit. The system is the clearest embodiment of the government’s austerity agenda. It has acted as a vehicle for cuts for disabled people – such as the removal of vital disability premiums worth £180 per month. Since its introduction, universal credit has been beset with errors and delays that have pushed many to destitution.
After years of denial from ministers, the current work and pensions secretary Amber Rudd recently admitted the link between universal credit and the rise in food bank use. According to the Trussell Trust’s new analysis, nearly half of food bank referrals were made due to a delay in benefits were linked to universal credit.
Analysis from the Trussell Trust on food bank referrals in 2018 showed a 52% average increase in food bank use in areas that had universal credit for 12 months or more compared with 13% in areas that had not yet gone live with universal credit, or where it had been live for three months or less.
This is the reality in Rudd’s own constituency of Hastings and Rye, where the number of people going to food banks rose by 80% when universal credit was introduced.
But instead of springing to action, the Conservatives have continued to ignore what is happening on their doorsteps. They have failed to end the five-week wait between claiming universal credit and receiving first payment, and they have failed to reverse the brutal cuts inherent to the system. Instead of recognising the devastating effects of austerity on food bank use, Conservative MPs are lining up for photo opportunities.
The figures published today must act as a call to action. Disabled people and the millions of others using our social security system deserve better.
• Marsha de Cordova is shadow disabilities minister and a Labour MP
