Figures released this month show food poverty in Westminster continues to rise rapidly as the Government’s cuts hit Londoners hard. The Trussell Trust, the charity running 39 foodbanks in London, recorded an increase in people visiting its food banks in Westminster of 92%. 

In 2009 there were six food banks run by the Trussell Trust in London, and today there are 39, with numbers of visitors in the past year increasing at an alarming rate. Londonwide Assembly Member Fiona Twycross last year published a report on why growing numbers of Londoners are unable to afford enough food for themselves and their families.

Murad Qureshi, Labour Londonwide Assembly Member, said:

“Food poverty in modern Britain is a scandal. And it is horrifying that in London, one of the world’s richest cities, the number of people reliant on food banks has almost doubled in the past year.

“From April 2013 to March 2014 over 95,000 people in London 1,243 in Westminster were fed by a Trussell Trust foodbank. This includes working people whose wages simply won’t stretch and who can’t afford to buy enough food for their families.

“The Mayor has to take a lead in working with partner organisations to help lift London families out of food poverty, and it is astonishing that despite these figures the Mayor has still refused to visit a foodbank in his six years in office. I am calling on him to visit local foodbanks in Westminster so he can hear directly why people are hungry in our city.”

Ends

Notes

1. Murad Qureshi is a Labour Londonwide Assembly Member.
2. You can find Fiona Twycross’s 2013 Food Poverty report here.
3. Figures released by the Trussell Trust this month: