To
mark the start of the 40 day fasting relay, campaigners and church leaders
assembled near the Houses of Parliament for a photocall, inviting the public to
fast in solidarity with the thousands of Britons going hungry and calling on
the Government to take action.
The
earlier letter from faith leaders, including 27 Bishops, calling on the
Government to act on the national crisis in UK hunger was backed up by 20
leading secular charities, including Just Fair, Oxfam and Child Poverty Action
Group, who have thrown their weight behind End Hunger Fast for its official launch
on Ash Wednesday in a letter to national newspapers announcing “Hunger has
returned to Britain”.
The
backing came as fresh statistics gathered from over 400 Trussell Trust food
banks around the country vindicated the call for action. The Trussell Trust say
that their food banks gave out three days’ emergency food over 600,000 times
between April and December 2013, more than in the entire previous financial
year (in 2012-13 Trussell Trust food banks gave out three days’ food almost
350,000 times). In addition to these figures, Church Action on Poverty and
Oxfam have estimated that a total of over 500,000 people were helped by
independent and Trussell Trust food banks in 2012-13. West Cheshire
Foodbank has now given out emergency food to over 5000 people since November
2012; a third of these were children.
Meanwhile
End Hunger Fast revealed the first wave of faith leaders, MPs, celebrities and
poverty campaigners taking part in the “fasting relay” to highlight the need
for the Government to act on growing hunger.
The
fasting relay was launched today [Wednesday 5th] with a photocall outside
parliament. Those taking part in the first week of fasting include:
Comedian
Eddie Izzard
Helen
Drewery, General Secretary of the Quakers
Rt
Rev Michael Perham, the Bishop of Gloucester
Rt
Rev Nick Holtam, the Bishop of Salisbury
Rt
Rev Stephen Platten, the Bishop of Wakefield
Sarah
Teather MP
Fresh research vindicates
campaign
The growing body of evidence supporting the campaign was added to today with
key new sources of research. New Trussell Trust figures on food banks were
joined by an End Hunger Fast poll, surveying 1,000 Britons, which found that
over 50% have had to tighten their belts, cutting down on food to pay other
bills in the last year. One in five admit to having gone hungry to save money
and 85% agreed with the campaign’s call that “no one should go hungry in Britain”.
In
a further development Liz Dowler one of the Warwickshire University academics
who wrote the Governments own DEFRA study into food banks has come out in
support of the End Hunger Fast campaign and backing the Living Wage as a
solution, noting “food banks are not a long term solution, the quantities are
too small and too piecemeal to meet systematic need.”
Keith Hebden, End Hunger Fast
campaign spokesperson said:
“Today is an exciting day, with so many different faith communities and
sections of wider society uniting in the call to end UK hunger. We must stop and
recognise the growing hunger in our midst.
“I
hope others will join and fast for a day, a week or as long as they feel able,
in solidarity with the half a million hungry Britons. This is a moral crisis,
one we should lament as it calls us to act”
Eddie Izzard, public figure
and comedian said:
“It’s shocking to see just how quickly and widely foodbanks are springing up
across UK.
It’s unacceptable that in the 7th richest country on earth hundreds of
thousands of people would go hungry but for these local charities.
“When
one in four families is cutting portion sizes and parents are skipping meals to
feed their kids it’s time to act. By fasting today I hope to play my part in
drawing attention to this massive and growing issue.”
David McAuley, Trussell Trust
Chief Executive:
“Seeing the impact that
going hungry has on a mum who is at crisis point, and the additional stress and
anxiety that it causes, compels us to act. Trussell Trust food banks are
providing emergency food and support to hundreds of thousands of people in
crisis, but more needs to be done to find ways to resolve the underlying causes
of UK
hunger. Myself and many of my colleagues will join End Hunger Fast’s stand in
solidarity with people in our communities who won’t have a choice about whether
they eat tonight. We hope it will place a spotlight on this issue so that
practical solutions can be found to help stop UK hunger.”
Helen Drewery General
Secretary of Quaker Peace and Social Witness said:
“Quakers are angry that
such hunger and inequality exists in Britain. So I’ll be taking part in
the fasting chain because I want to stand in solidarity with people who have no
choice but to go hungry and because I think that the Government needs to take
the issue of hunger more seriously.”
The Bishop of Warrington
and Acting Bishop of Liverpool, the Rt Revd
Richard Blackburn said:
“The scandal of food poverty is something churches across our diocese tackle
daily. End Hunger Fast is a wake up call to society, politicians and leaders
that we can no longer get away with tackling the symptoms of food poverty. Now
is the time to properly protect the vulnerable from being failed by a society
that should have resources to make sure no one goes hungry.”
Alec Spencer, Development
Officer at West Cheshire Foodbank said:
“In
West Cheshire, we’ve seen rising numbers of
people forced to rely on our Foodbank. Since we opened in November 2012, we’ve
provided 3 days of emergency food to over 5000 people, many of whom were
children. In January alone, we provided food to over 500 people. I’d encourage
everyone to get involved with End Hunger Fast and to show their support for
local people in crisis. You can visit endhungerfast.co.uk to sign up and find
out more”.
End
Hunger Fast is calling for the Government to act immediately on welfare, wages
and food markets and meet their duty of care to poor and vulnerable citizens.
-
Welfare: half of all those going to food banks have been referred because of
benefit delays and changes, including punitive sanctions. Regardless of changes
to welfare policy and attempts to make savings, the welfare system must be
there to stop people going hungry and must fulfil this mission.
-
Living Wage: The majority of households in poverty and at risk from hunger are
in work and 60% of them report cutting back on food to save money. Work should
pay, the minimum wage and support for the Living Wage must be used to make sure
of it.
-
Food prices have gone up 30.5% in the last 5 years, way ahead of general
inflation and way ahead of wages. At the same time the poorest among us have to
pay 19% more for food in a poverty premium and more and more people are forced
to buy cheap and unhealthy processed foods. Government should undertake a full
review of British food markets to look at long term interventions to make them
healthy, sustainable and affordable.
