Martyn Day

Society should be judged on how it treats its most vulnerable. I have talked to many people who now depend on foodbanks due to either delays and errors with benefit payments, or the imposition of punitive benefit sanctions.

It is the problems of the UK Governments’welfare system that cause food poverty.

Whilst serving as your MP I made visits to each of the foodbanks supporting our communities. I cannot praise highly enough the efforts of the staff, volunteers and the wider community who support them.

It is outrageous that while the UK throws away 7 million tonnes of food each year over a million people rely on foodbanks. Foodbanks are not, and should not, be part of the welfare state, and are not a sustainable response to this crisis.

Food poverty is the worst symptom of the wider poverty which results from the Tories’harmful welfare regime. The use of reprehensible benefit sanctions is pushing more people into desperate situations, increasing the demand for emergency food relief. This is a damning indictment of the Tories’toxic agenda. Now, more than ever, Scotland needs strong SNP voices at Westminster speaking out against austerity.

While the SNP are mitigating some of the worst aspects of Tory benefit cuts. The limited powers of the Scottish Parliament are not enough; it is essential that full control over social security is devolved to the Scottish Parliament. Every vote for the SNP backs workers and families with fair pay. and a fair social security system.