Rees-Mogg under fire for calling food banks ‘uplifting’
‘People are in real need’
JACOB Rees- Mogg was criticised yesterday for saying that food banks were ‘uplifting’ and showed how ‘good and compassionate’ Britain was.
The Tory backbencher, who has been tipped as a future party leader, also claimed the number of people using the service had increased because Labour tried to hide their existence.
But both opposition MPs and campaigners hit out at Mr ReesMogg’s comments.
It follows controversy over the North East Somerset MP’s stance on abortion, which he said he could not support under any circumstances due to his Catholic faith.
Speaking on LBC radio yesterday, Mr Rees- Mogg said: ‘ To have charitable support given by people voluntarily to support their fellow citizens I think is rather uplifting and shows what a good, compassionate country we are.
‘ Inevitably, the state can’t do everything, so I think that there is good within food banks.
‘The real reason for the rise in numbers is that people know that they are there and Labour deliberately didn’t tell them.’
But the Eton-educated MP was criticised for Labour’s education spokesman Angela Rayner. The Ashton-under-Lyne MP said: ‘My constituents would prefer to feed themselves instead of being “uplifted” after visiting a food bank.’
The number of people using food banks has soared in the past decade, according to the country’s biggest provider, The Trussell Trust.
In 2004, it is believed there were just two food banks – but the charity now runs 427 across Britain, relying on 40,000 volunteers.
The group handed out 1,182,954 three-day emergency food supplies in 2016 and 2017, compared with just 25,899 in 2008 and 2009.
Last night Garry Lemon, of The Trussell Trust, said: ‘We agree that the work of volunteers and voluntary organisations is uplifting, but food banks are an emergency service and, whilst they do all they can to offer support to people in crisis, they cannot solve structural problems alone.
‘More can and must be done at all levels of UK government to recognise and find solutions to the issues which drive food bank use and we are keen to work with politicians, businesses and other charities to tackle hunger in communities across the UK.’
The charity also criticised Mr Rees-Mogg for suggesting the use of food banks has dramatically increased simply because people knew where they were.
Mr Lemon said: ‘Everyone who comes to a Trussell Trust food bank is referred by a frontline worker like a health visitor. People are in real need and it is clear that the dramatic rise in food bank use over the past five years cannot be attributed to awareness alone.’
Mr Rees-Mogg has become something of a cult figure in Parliament. The father-of-six was voted favourite to succeed Theresa May as leader in a poll of party members earlier this week on the Conservative Home website. f.hargreaves@dailymail.co.uk