Hungry mouths

South Scotland Labour MSP, Colin Smyth, has said that the rise of three day emergency food parcels in South Ayrshire demonstrates the damage being done by the UK Government’s introduction of Universal Credit.

Figures released by the Trussell Trust Foodbank show that between April and September 3,030 three day emergency food supplies were delivered by the foodbank within South Ayrshire. This was an increase from 2,125 for the same period last year. Of the 3,030 three day emergency food supplies delivered, 2,208 were to adults and 822 supplies were delivered for children. This was an increase from the same period last year of 653 and 252 respectively.

Smyth said:“The 43 per cent rise in three day emergency food parcels delivered by the Trussell Trust across South Ayrshire in a single year shows the human impact of Universal Credit. It is appalling that the Conservative Government have ignored calls from charities to pause and fix Universal Credit to ensure that no claimant is pushed into poverty and financially worse off. These figures show that they were wrong to ignore those calls.”