One in seven Britons faced hunger in 2022, says food bank charity

This is what happens after 13 years of a Tory government that was more interested in partying during covid than taking care of the country. They will be out at the next general election.

The Conservatives have now been in office for longer than New Labour but they have little to celebrate.

That’s why I left there a long time ago. Now japan is becoming the same.

Ah, the sunlit uplands of Brexit!

greetings to Rishi Sunak you do a great job sending weapons and money to Kiev regime while own UK citizens have no money to buy food and are starving.

Caption:

Volunteers at the charity Greenwich Foodbank organize stocks of food before the items are dispatched to benefactors

The poverty is on many levels

Nahhh... they're still rich! Many people still want to work there!

New Labour were in power for 13 years 1997-2010. The Conservatives have been in power since 2015. Between 2010-2015 was a coalition - which the Tories pandered to the wet leaf Lib Dems way too much. God knows what a mess Labor would have made of things right now with their loose purse strings. Lets not forget what a mess they left the UK in 2010.

There is plenty of time for Rishi Sunak to turn things around and show that they ARE the only party with the experience to steer the UK through these choppy waters. I predict another Tory Government after the next election albeit with a much reduced majority.

People are being forced by their circumstances to borrow from illegal money lenders.

Foodbank Britain gathered pace after the disastrous austerity policies introduced by the Tory/LibDem coalition in 2010. This left the less-well off pretty much screwed. Then we have Brexit - and it now only the delusional or dishonest who see Brexit as a success. Maybe we’ll see the fruits in 50 years as one Tory scammer predicted. Farage seems somehow shocked that the ruling party he has been calling useless for years made a mess of it.

We can go on here.

There is plenty of time for Rishi Sunak to turn things around and show that they ARE the only party with the experience to steer the UK through these choppy waters. I predict another Tory Government after the next election albeit with a much reduced majority

The experience? The administrations of Johnson and 40-odd-day Truss has been a revolving door of pathological liars, idiots and reality TV tossers.

We’ve got 30p Lee in a position of importance.

My money would be on a Labour/LibDem coalition after the next election after full-on tactical voting.

There is enough of an anybody-but-them feeling out there. Sunak is still carrying the stench of Johnson around.

Right to adequate food is a fundamental right of every citizen of the Planet. Wasting resources of the Planet on wars and war-toys make no sense. Hunger needs to be fought on a war-footing.

@theResident. I was in shock at such a perception at first but then it suddenly dawned on me your account of things is totally ironic. Very droll.

One in seven people in the United Kingdom faced hunger last year because they did not have enough money,

Maybe if they stopped paying £13 for a pack of cigarettes and £60 for their Sky TV, they would have more left over for food.

Maybe if they stopped paying £13 for a pack of cigarettes and £60 for their Sky TV, they would have more left over for food.

The Daily Mail letters page has come to life.

We might get bring back the birch in a minute.

@Moonraker: No - Appreciate the sarcasm, but I'm very serious.

Mr Kipling

One in seven people in the United Kingdom faced hunger last year because they did not have enough money,

Maybe if they stopped paying £13 for a pack of cigarettes and £60 for their Sky TV, they would have more left over for food.

As usual a wonderful opinion and empathy with your fellow citizens. No one in my immediate family children and grandchildren smokes or has any TV since it's not their thing. My son and his partner are both working with two children. Since the energy crisis they have to decide what to spend their money on. Food or heat. My oldest granddaughter has put herself through university and is just now finishing. She worked part-time to help pay for it.

The UK poverty rate has changed much over the last 30 years, around about 22%. The National Debt is too high costing every household £2000 in interest payments every year.

I think Brexit turned out to have a negative effect.

but I'm very serious.

As a matter of interest, do you question your narrative about recent UK political history, or your predictions?

Never. If I'm wrong I'll put my hand up and admit it. So far, I have not been.

Always despised the tories, always will.

Even the blood-sucking vampires of the IMF have admitted that corporate greed is behind the rise in inflation:

Rising corporate profits account for almost half the increase in Europe’s inflation over the past two years as companies increased prices by more than spiking costs of imported energy.

https://www.imf.org/en/Blogs/Articles/2023/06/26/europes-inflation-outlook-depends-on-how-corporate-profits-absorb-wage-gains

Moonraker

@theResident. I was in shock at such a perception at first but then it suddenly dawned on me your account of things is totally ironic. Very droll.

Nah, this is the guy who believes workers shouldn't be able to collectively withhold their labour. He's somehow magically arrived in Japan direct from the 19th. century.

Never. If I'm wrong I'll put my hand up and admit it. So far, I have not been

You did regard Liz Truss as competent.

To be fair, I don’t think many realized just how much of a blazing car car crash it would be.

I did regard Liz Truss as competent , true. But as you will remember I voted for Sunak in the leadership election he lost to her. I don't think that 'a blazing car crash' quite covers it.

Access to food, shelter, water, healthcare, and heat, are human rights.

Declaration of Human Rights. Article 25. Right to food, clothing, housing, and healthcare. We all have the right to enough food, clothing, housing, and healthcare for ourselves and our families.

@Alfie: Ah. That word 'collectively' - a word that should have been thrown out with Jeremy Corbyn.

I don't doubt the figures, but when I do the weekly shopping the supermarket is busy and people in the queues still have trolleys full of brand name items, fresh fruit n veg, drinkies and other items. I don't see many people picking up the cheap own brand items. That's an ASDA store in Glasgow, not some posh Waitrose store in Surrey.

I think in deprived areas or areas where unemployment is high, yes I can see those figures, maybe even higher.

What kind of social circle do you mix in where it's ok to freely admit voting tory ?

You might as well bowl around in a Jim'll Fix It t-shirt.

Where I come from its all True Blue mate. Always has been, always will be.

Liz Truss, eh? It just never gets old:

https://twitter.com/trussliz/status/130291010730340352

The dire straits that the self-gaslit majority living in their Tory Brexit-Cloud-Cuckoo Land find themselves in, has been decades in the making as a result of the unwillingness and inability of the self-entitled English ruling class to create a modern society like a defeated Germany succeeded in doing. Democracy is now threatened by further erosion as right-wing demagogues crawl out of the polished oak-paneling to stir up populist revanchism. Even sport has not been spared the metastasizing corruption of class, sexism, racism and elitism, as the latest report indicates. It's simply not cricket, innit?

As much as I hate the Tory government.... The poor went out in their millions to vote them into power at the last election.

Who is to blame?

In his election campaign, Boris Johnson promised if the labour strongholds voted for the Tories he would invest new money in those areas in some sort of levelling. They were ripped off.

"'I will repay your trust,' UK PM Johnson tells ex-Labour voters on a trip to the north"

A huge shout out, deep bow to the dedicated food bank volunteers, all save lives.

Politian's, I suggest no matter what political hue could well fall well short of future hopes or expectations.

I used a food bank, at the time at college I ran out of money, the doctor, and my student liaison arranged the procedure.

The reality I was too ashamed to admit to boozing my allowance/grant away instead of budgeting accordingly.

This pandemic has brought home the realties of what I contend we are all guilty of taking for granted.

Politics will not solve the realties of poverty. It will certainly focus media attention to the struggles of the have nots. No doubt there.

I am in awe of the people that spend devote time helping the less fortunate.

@wallace

Yep, I totally agree about the 13 years of Tory government. All they seem to know is how to take from others, in order to line their own pockets.

Well @Patricia, the last Labour Government gave so much away, they left the country with no money. But no Labour supporters seem to have an answer for that.

well just keep pumping money stolen from UK taxpayers for Kiev crooks...

It's too late for reverse BREXIT now, good luck

https://www.novinite.com/articles/220627/Only+18+of+those+who+Voted+for+Brexit+think+it+was+a+Success

There were many great achievements with the New Labour Blair/Brown government and there were some not acceptable like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but the Friday Agreement and the end of the Troubles was one of the biggest.

Blair saw the introduction of a minimum wage, tuition fees for higher education, constitutional reform such as devolution in Scotland and Wales, and an extensive expansion of LGBT+ rights. Blair was PM for 10 years.  Welfare reforms proposed by New Labour in their 2001 manifesto included Working Families Tax Credit, and the National Childcare Strategy.

How many Tory PMs have we had since 2010? Five.

In 2010 National Debt was 74.6% of the GDP. By 2020, it was 101.0% of the gross domestic product (GDP).

Yep, I totally agree about the 13 years of Tory government. All they seem to know is how to take from others, in order to line their own pockets.

Well, the Tory spivs did warn the suckers who fell for their Orwellian "Taking Back Control". It'll take a generation to undo all the damage of their Brexit wheeze of smash the punters' bank accounts and grab their wallets, a Ye Olde English tradition that's been around since the time of "Guillaume le Bâtard" and of which the masochistic can never seem to get enough.

Enjoy Brexit...

I don't doubt the figures, but when I do the weekly shopping the supermarket is busy and people in the queues still have trolleys full of brand name items, fresh fruit n veg, drinkies and other items. I don't see many people picking up the cheap own brand items. That's an ASDA store in Glasgow, not some posh Waitrose store in Surrey.

I think in deprived areas or areas where unemployment is high, yes I can see those figures, maybe even higher.

13% seems very high to me - and the source of the numbers and how the data was collected is unclear - it is an "estimate". I appreciate the charity work that they do and all that support them, but big claims should be support by big evidence.

But saying that, the bottom 13% of households (assuming to adults and two children), will have an income of less than £22,000.

Take a look at photos of Brits out and about in the UK. They look very well fed...too well fed actually.

Brexit took Sterling down 25% in a world where everything is priced in USD. Add the additional cost of moving goods and foods across those shiny new borders - especially the EU one, and the loss of migrant labour, and this is what you get. A toxic spiral of inflation and high interest rates, as the economy and services declines.

The article forgot to mention that the NHS is falling apart for lack of staff and cash, a surprising number of British schools are in danger of collapse and we get water restrictions after a few weeks of sunny weather.

I guess the Tories could spin this as Brexit reducing the UK's high levels of obesity as part of the Utopia Boris promised.

My neighbours use food banks, some of my colleagues at work have to use them. The government do not care.

I worry about children going hungry. I wonder if the government could give the ones that need it breakfast before school too - the kitchens are already there, so it's feasible.

Free breakfast and lunch for school children.

Free breakfast and lunch for school children.

Why stop there? Give their parents a free house, car , clothes and holidays abroad.

Or maybe people who can't afford to take care of children hold off until they can.

Those breakfasts and lunches are not free... Someone is paying for them.

Free breakfast and lunch for school children.

Why stop there?

Do you disagree with feeding kids in need?

The health of the nation is important to everyone. Having healthy probably fed children is better and cheaper for society in the long run.

Mr Kipling

I don't know if you have been a bitter man all of your life. Did something trigger it?

People are having a problem feeding themselves and mostly has nothing to do with all the usual negative points you post.

Circumstances change. First Brexit caused a heap of new problems with many losing their businesses. Then along came the covid pandemic. Before the nation could probably recover the Russian-Ukraine war started leading to a massive increase in energy costs. People have to decide between food on the table, heat or a hot bath.

Since you live in Japan and no longer pay UK taxes why would the idea of free breakfast and free lunch (which they already have) even bother you?

Denying food to hungry children is very bitter.

The UK poverty rate is about 20%.

13.4 million people. Of these, 7.9 million were working-age adults, 3.9 million were children and 1.7 million were pensioners. Therefore, one in four children in the UK is living in poverty (27%).

https://www.jrf.org.uk/data/overall-uk-poverty-rates

One in four children in poverty needs free breakfasts and lunches.

Of course, wages could also be increased so no one lives in poverty but who pays for that?

Mr Kipling

if you are one of those people who believe all people should pay for all the benefits they receive we would have to increase payments more than tenfold.

For 30 years I have paid taxes here in Japan. A portion goes to providing education for children but I have no children, so why should I pay then?

Poverty is not created by the people who are living it. poverty is not created by the poor. It is created by the system we have built, the institutions we have designed the policies & laws we created.

‘Cost of eating’ crisis: price of school lunches up by a third in parts of England

The government’s restrictions mean more than 800,000 children in poverty miss out on free school meals, according to the charity Child Poverty Action Group.

About 1.9 million state school pupils in England – more than one in five of the total – were eligible for free meals last year, with a further 1.2 million receiving universal infant free school meals.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/may/01/cost-of-eating-crisis-price-of-school-lunches-rise-by-third-in-parts-of-england-since-2019

Mr KiplingToday 02:47 pm JST

Or maybe people who can't afford to take care of children hold off until they can.

Because wagging fingers at parents has always resulted in the children not in prison when they grow up?

Bitter? Far from it...

I am blissful happy with my life, well, most of the time.

Just find it odd that people are so keen to spend other people's money for the benefit of failed parents.

The solution to poverty is not to have more children.

Mr K - investing in our children is investing in our future. Not looking after the young is shooting ourselves in the foot.

I actually agree with you that too much money is wasted on things like alcohol and cigarettes by a certain demographic, but remember that children can't choose their parents ...

Jimizo..

Do you disagree with feeding kids in need?

Not if they are in need. But these figures are BS.

Supermarket brand bread and jam, beans, oatmeal, eggs..

You can eat for cheap quite easily in the UK.

njca4Today  06:35 am JST

I worry about children going hungry. I wonder if the government could give the ones that need it breakfast before school too - the kitchens are already there, so it's feasible.

Many schools have been running breakfast clubs, where children get a subsidised meal before school, for a long time. Many local businesses sponsor these clubs.

Some councils provide free school meals to all children, not just the ones eligible under official schemes. The borough I live in has the highest rate of child poverty in the UK, hence everyone gets free school dinners.

The head of the Metropolitan Police announced today that many in the force are skipping meals and using food banks. Public sector pay has been subject to below inflation rises for years, now the cost of living crisis means for many their pay no longer covers their outgoings. Working in public service is becoming a luxury many cannot afford, and this is adding to the exodus of staff, particularly from the NHS. The place I work is haemorrhaging staff and we cannot find anyone to replace them. We have a 19% vacancy rate, and growing.

One in seven people in the United Kingdom faced hunger last year because they did not have enough money, according to a report published on Wednesday by food bank charity the Trussell Trust.

British society is in dire straits. Medical care is diminishing. Drug use and gang violence is increasing. Homelessness is on the rise,

And now people are starving there. Sad society.

Mr Kipling

Bitter? Far from it...

> I am blissful happy with my life, well, most of the time.

Sure, you buy properties and rent them out to people who can't afford to buy them. Ironic isn't it?

Just find it odd that people are so keen to spend other people's money for the benefit of failed parents.

But since you don't pay British taxes, not your money then.

The solution to poverty is not to have more children.

You seem to have zero understanding of how poverty is caused. I already provided a few links. Plenty online. You blame the victims of poverty for the cause. I think that is what is called short-sighted.

No one ever in your family has ever been in need of assistance for being unemployed, sick, old, or disabled?

11 million children live in poverty, including 1 in 7 children of color and 1 in 6 children under 5. Children remain the poorest age group in America, with children of color, children under five, children of single mothers, and children in the South suffering from the highest poverty rates.

https://www.childrensdefense.org/the-state-of-americas-children/soac-2023-child-poverty/

When ranking child income poverty rates across 34 OECD nations from lowest to highest, the United States, with one of the highest rates of child poverty, ranks 31st .Oct 25, 2022

https://www.povertycenter.columbia.edu/publication/2022/child-tax-credit-and-relative-poverty

The answer to poverty is to ensure everyone is receiving a living wage.

One in seven people 

A huge number starving. Really sad.

All children across the world should have access to sufficient food, education, and healthcare.

In Kenya, they have started a program to extend school meals to include breakfasts. The kitchens are already there as are the staff. The farmers and suppliers benefit. The staff benefit. And most importantly, the children benefit.

If a country like Kenya can achieve it so can the UK.

The proportion of children living in poverty in the OECD countries in 2020

https://www.statista.com/statistics/264424/child-poverty-in-oecd-countries/

USA 18.8%.

Japan 14%.

UK 11.9%.

Britain is battered by COVID, like other economies in trouble. More reason for the world to ask for reparations from China which refused to take prompt action to stem the outflow of the virus from Wuhan and from the Chinese border in early 2019.