* Jonathan Bartley: 'With almost half of referrals caused by issues with benefits it is laudable that the Trussell Trust has called for hotlines to Job Centres – but this should not be necessary any more than foodbanks are.'
Jonathan Bartley has called on the Government to address policy failures that leave people relying on foodbanks in response to news that the Trussell Trust delivered half a million food parcels in the last six months. [1]
Bartley, Green Party co-leader, said:
“It is a national scandal that the Trussell Trust has had to deliver half a million emergency food parcels in the last six months. Britain is the sixth largest economy in the world and it is shameful that so many families are facing food poverty.
“It is disgusting that the Government accepts foodbanks as a feature of life in 21st Century Britain when it could address its policy failures which are leading to foodbank use.
“With almost half of referrals caused by issues with benefits it is laudable that the Trussell Trust has called for hotlines to Job Centres – but this should not be necessary any more than foodbanks are.
“The Government must commit to scrapping sanctions and provide emergency support that works when benefits are delayed so fewer people are forced to rely on emergency support just to put food on the table.
“In the long term, the Government should seriously examine the case for a basic income, a universal payment to all people, which would get rid of the need rely on a foodbank again.”