Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
FOODBANKS XMAS CRISIS
Charity is braced for record 1.5 million meals handout...
AS twinkling festive displays adorn the streets, someone starving trudges to the foodbank to stave off hunger – and is grateful for a Pot Noodle.
Suffering mental heath problems, the desperate user reveals they have had no cash for five weeks because of Universal Credit rules that are punishing the needy.
The Dickensian yuletide scene in the world’s fifth biggest economy should shame Theresa May and her cronies.
But it is about to be repeated over and again as desperate foodbank staff face record demands due to the growing number of people who will be left skint over Christmas by the fiveweek delay in first payments of UC benefit.
Volunteers are expecting to dish out 1.5 million meals to starving families – and if last year’s figures are anything to go by that could include 590,598 for children.
The foodbank user happy even to get a pitiful quick-fix meal in Exeter said in a note: “The last five weeks have been a nightmare. I haven’t eaten all day and I was so hungry. They gave me a Pot Noodle. Thank you.” Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: “No one should be cold or hungry at Christmas. It’s time this Government opened its eyes to the misery it is causing and immediately stop the roll out of Universal Credit.”
Labour MP Neil Coyle added: “The Government can cut demand for foodbanks at the stroke of a pen but has so far remained heartless in the face of the horrific suffering it has caused so many families needing foodbanks this year.” Lib Dem welfare spokesman Stephen Lloyd said: “When people call Christmas a time for giving, they certainly don’t have foodbanks in mind.
“The Tories’ stubborn refusal to properly fund Universal Credit and end its inherent payment delays will cause unnecessary hardship for many people.” Grim figures show a 49% surge in demand at Trussell Trust foodbanks last December compared with the rest of the year. The charity gave away 159,388 emergency parcels, each containing enough for three meals a day for three days, in the run up to and over the festive period. That was 1.4 million meals. It is a 10% surge from 2016 when 144,677 of the parcels were handed out.
Demand has already soared this year, with Trussell Trust experts blaming the Universal Credit roll-out. Chief executive Emma Revie said: “Our benefits system is supposed protect us all from being swept into poverty, but what we’re seeing is people struggling to heat homes and put food on the table because they simply cannot afford the basics anymore and that just isn’t right.”
The Department for Work and Pensions again insisted the reasons for foodbank use were “complex”.
It said advances for the first payments are available, but they are loans which have to be paid back within a year.