“Britain should be striving to eliminate the need for food banks entirely.”
We’re in the middle of the deepest cost-of-living crisis in generations, which has become a permanent cost-of-living emergency for millions. Yet the whole political establishment seems intent on never-ending austerity.
As a new Government approaches, we need to mobilise for policies that could address the depth of the crises we face, including the 10 ‘Workers Can’t Wait’ demands. To help build this campaign initiative, we are publishing a daily blog on the importance on each of these demands. Today, Ben Hayes looks at the demand “For the right to food.”
The combination of rising prices and incomes depleted by low pay and years of social security being undermined has had a disastrous impact in communities across the country. Food costs have proved a particularly devastating example of this. The Trussell Trust found that over 11 million adults in Britain had experienced food insecurity over 2022-23 (a period which saw prices reach their highest levels in four decades), with 47% of households affected also including children. This has left all too many people reliant on institutions such as food banks, held together by dedicated and often overstretched volunteers. The number of emergency food supply parcels distributed has more than tripled over the last 10 years.
Networks such as this have felt the impact of the cost-of-living crisis themselves, with many having to buy in supplies due to donations not keeping pace with rapidly increasing demand and/or extending hours so that the growing proportion of users of the service in paid employment can pick up parcels on their way to work. As the Trussell Trust itself acknowledges, Britain should be striving to eliminate the need for food banks entirely, rather than forcing their expansion as a response to a frightening rise in demand.
As well as the hard work of those seeking to help provide ways of addressing the shocking material impact of the situation in the here and now, we need a policy agenda which tackles the causes of it head on. Nobody in our society should be left worrying about whether or not they can meet one of the most basic human needs – especially in one of the world’s richest countries.
Right to Food (RTF) was launched in 2020 and emerged from the Fans Supporting Foodbanks initiative (a coalition of Everton and Liverpool supporters collecting donations at football matches in response to growing hunger in their local community), with MP for Liverpool West Derby Ian Byrne, himself a volunteer with this group, having championed the demands of the campaign in Parliament from day one. As well as enshrining a legal right to food provision, the measures proposed by RTF include universal free school meals, for government to explicitly state the proportion of income expected to be spent on food when setting the minimum wage and social security levels, the creation of Community Kitchens, and independent bodies to hold government to account on this issue.
The level of support the campaign has received is reflective both of the scale of the crisis it was set up in response to and the resonance of its programme, with MPs from various parties, trade unions and faith groups among those offering their support. Numerous bodies in local and devolved government have also begun taking up this agenda, with Mayor of London Sadiq Khan committing to continuing the policy of providing free meals to all primary school children in the capital as part of his successful re-election campaign last month. Both the city councils and Combined Authorities in Liverpool and Manchester have voted to become ‘Right to Food cities’, joining administrations including Rotherham, Brighton and Hove, St Helens, Preston, Lancaster, Durham, Newcastle, Portsmouth, Totnes, Coventry, Sheffield, Birmingham, Haringey, Brent, Lewisham, Lambeth, Hackney, Southwark, Islington, Cumberland and Southampton.
There is also potential for an alliance with public health campaigners over ensuring access to nutritious meals (with The Food Foundation finding that anyone in the most deprived fifth of the population would need need to spend half of their disposable income on food in order to meet the cost of a government-recommended healthy diet), as well as workers in the food industry: RTF was included as one of the demands of the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union’s ‘Bakers’ Dozen’ manifesto.
It can undoubtedly be frustrating seeing how little the seriousness of this issue is being reflected in coverage around the upcoming general election. A question in the first televised leaders’ debate from audience member Paula, who discussed having started to cook multiple meals at once over fears about the costs of using her oven, provided a much-needed reminder of the reality for significant numbers of people in Britain today. Indeed, the Prime Minister acknowledged that “There’ll be millions of people watching this who feel in a similar position to you”: but regrettably, responses from both leaders were somewhat lighter on substantive plans to address situations like Paula’s than rehearsed soundbites shoehorned in.
However, a period where millions are more engaged with political debate than usual and prominent figures are subject to greater scrutiny is still an opportunity to build up pressure for change. The Labour Assembly Against Austerity has taken up the Right to Food in its ‘Workers Can’t Wait’ statement, which puts forward an agenda to tackle the cost-of living crisis- with the relevant section echoing calls to enshrine access to food as a legal right, the introduction of universal free school meals nationally and the creation of a National Food Service. The measures put forward on other areas (such as including strengthening wages, ending reactionary policies in relation to social security, implementing price controls and ensuring trade union freedom) are also important to addressing the relentless squeeze on living standards which is at the heart of hunger in Britain- with over 22,000 people now having signed up. It’s vital that we keep up the momentum and build support for this in the labour movement and beyond.
- You can find the Worker’s Can’t Wait demands – and join over 22,000 in adding your support here.
- We’re publishing a series of articles for each of the Workers Can’t Wait demands, you can find them as they are published here.
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