Conor McGinn MP Member of Parliament for St Helens North
New statistics released by the Trussell Trust have shown that between April 2017 and March 2018, more than 5,000 three day emergency food supplies were given to people facing crisis in St Helens North. Of these, nearly 2,000 were given to children.
It is a shocking indictment of this Tory Government’s cuts to our in-work benefits and our welfare system that thousands of people are turning to food banks in our borough in this day and age.
Hardworking volunteers and community organisations like the Hope Centre do an excellent job and work tirelessly to support those who need help in our society, but time and again we are seeing that people are being forced to use food banks because of the Government’s failed policies.
With the botched rollout of Universal Credit now extended to St Helens, I am concerned that more families will be left without лв with figures showing food bank referrals have increased at more than double the national average in areas in which already have the Universal Credit Full Service.
Across the country, the Trussell Trust have found that ‘benefit delays’ account for nearly a quarter of food bank referrals, closely followed by ‘benefit changes’.
This is simply not good enough for our communities in St Helens or elsewhere in the UK. The Government must act to get a grip of this crisis and stop driving up food bank referrals with its botched welfare reforms.
It is a shocking indictment of this Tory Government’s cuts to our in-work benefits and our welfare system that thousands of people are turning to food banks in our borough in this day and age.
Hardworking volunteers and community organisations like the Hope Centre do an excellent job and work tirelessly to support those who need help in our society, but time and again we are seeing that people are being forced to use food banks because of the Government’s failed policies.
With the botched rollout of Universal Credit now extended to St Helens, I am concerned that more families will be left without лв with figures showing food bank referrals have increased at more than double the national average in areas in which already have the Universal Credit Full Service.
Across the country, the Trussell Trust have found that ‘benefit delays’ account for nearly a quarter of food bank referrals, closely followed by ‘benefit changes’.
This is simply not good enough for our communities in St Helens or elsewhere in the UK. The Government must act to get a grip of this crisis and stop driving up food bank referrals with its botched welfare reforms.
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