I won’t apologise for trying to help

I AM not going to lie, it has been a torrid time over the past couple of days.

During my contribution to the Queen’s Speech debate in the House last Wednesday, I paid tribute to the fantastic work of a local food bank in Ashfield.

I have worked closely with the food bank, which does not just supply food items to those in need but also provides cooking and budgeting lessons.

Subsequently, the Left and the media have been inferring all sorts of untrue assumptions about my comments. One newspaper even ran a headline stating I said, “poor people can’t cook”.watch my speech. I never said that poor people cannot cook or there is no need for food banks.

Quite frankly, this is not about me.this is about a brilliant food bank and its volunteers who are making a real difference to people’s lives in Ashfield.

When people go to the food bank, they receive a food parcel and register for budgeting and cooking lessons.these teach vital life skills of how to cook cheap and healthy meals on a budget.

Unfortunately, we live in a time where many people have grown up, generation after generation, without the role models to pass on these important skills, so this food bank is running a brilliant scheme, providing essential education.

During Wednesday’s speech, I was asked if it is necessary to have food banks in 21st-century Britain.this is exactly my point.

The food bank in Ashfield is working to reduce dependency, so people can budget and provide for themselves. Last year, along with three other MPS and the help of local college Attfe, we produced a film with the food bank where we made 170 meals for £50.This included a lunch, dinner, breakfast of cereal and milk, and enough milk, sugar and tea for a week.

This works out at about 30p a meal.you can watch the film on Youtube by searching for Ready Steady Cook Batch Cooking.

Our work was to show it is possible to make healthy meals at an affordable price. I make no apologies for trying to help people fend for themselves by helping them learn the skills they need.

I will not take any lectures from those on the Left accusing me of being out of touch. I was brought up in a mining family. My dad worked down the pit seven days a week.we had chickens at the back of my garden and vegetables growing to help supplement my parents’ wages. I also was a single parent to two boys for 17 years. I know what it is like to struggle to put food on the table.

It is deeply upsetting that a food bank working hard to help people has been disregarded in this way.

This is why I invited the whole Parliamentary Labour Party to come up to Ashfield to see the fantastic work the food bank is doing. So far, not one Labour MP has accepted my invitation. I make no apologies for supporting a cause working to equip people with the skills they need to reduce dependency on food banks.

‘I know what it’s like to struggle’