MP Luciana Berger says she will be inviting Lord Freud to a food bank in Wavertree after it was revealed that he has never visited one.
It comes as new figures published today show that more people proportionately are being referred to food banks with benefit related problems since the Tory-led Government’s welfare reforms came into effect in April.
Luciana Berger says she is
keen to show Freud around
the South Liverpool FoodbankLord Freud denied there was a link between the explosion in food bank use and changes to social security in Parliament last week and said food banks are increasing in popularity because people like getting free stuff.
He said: “The provision of food-bank support has grown from provision to 70,000 individuals two years ago to 347,000. All that predates the reforms. As I say, there is no evidence of a causal link.
“Food from a food bank - the supply - is a free good, and by definition there is an almost infinite demand for a free good.”
The fact he said this despite not having visited a food bank since he took office was revealed in an answer to a Parliamentary question tabled by Ms Berger, the Labour & Co-operative MP for Liverpool Wavertree.
In response, Employment Minister Mark Hoban confirmed: “The Minister for Welfare Reform has not visited any food banks since 2010. Food banks are not part of the welfare system.”
Luciana Berger MP said: “It’s no wonder that Lord Freud is so out of touch about why hundreds of thousands of people are being forced to turn to food banks when he has never even visited one.
Lord Freud says
people like free stuff“The Minister needs to wise up. There is a clear link between food bank referrals and benefits problems –particularly delays. Staff and volunteers have told me this during the many visits I have made to food banks.
"The figures published by the Trussell Trust today confirm that 52pc of the people who have received emergency food aid since April were referred because of social security problems. A third of these were due to delays in receiving benefits.
“I will be inviting Lord Freud to visit Liverpool Central Food Bank in my constituency – hopefully then he will be informed about the desperate reality his Government’s reforms are inflicting on people up and down the country.”
'It has got so bad I have tried to kill myself three times'
EX-hotel porter Robbie Crawley says the Central Liverpool Foodbank came to his rescue at his darkest hour.
After losing his job, Robbie, 50, was living in a 30-foot long concrete tunnel next to a sewage farm. "The cold was terrible.
Robbie Crawley"I lit a fire to try to keep myself warm during the night but the wind blew through the tunnel and it was freezing. There were rats all over the place and I saw a fox prowling around. It was a horrible experience."
Eventually, he moved into a friend's flat but, still without a job, he had no option but to claim food from Central Liverpool Foodbank.
"I really appreciate what they do," he says. "I went there because I need food. I don't like to be in the situation I am in. It has got so bad that I have tried to kill myself three times.
"I can't survive on the £100 per fortnight I get in Employment and Support Allowance. It's murder trying to find a job."
Story and image via Central Liverpool Fodbank
