Yesterday during Prime Minister's Questions, David Cameron responded to a question on food banks by claiming that the use of food banks increased "ten times under Labour". When Cameron says this he is factually correct. He is being totally disingenuous, however.
Yesterday during Prime Minister’s Questions, David Cameron responded to a question by claiming that the use of food banks had increased “ten times under Labour“.
When Cameron says this he is factually correct. He is being totally disingenuous, however.
As the chart below shows, the number of people using foodbanks in 2005/06 – five years after the first one opened in Salisbury – had increased “ten times” by the time Labour left office in 2010. By more than ten times, actually; the real figure is closer to a seventeen fold increase.
What David Cameron fails to mention, however, is that whereas under the previous government the number of people using foodbanks gradually climbed over five years, under the coalition this figure has shot up dramatically – to 128,697 last year, an increase of 4,573% on the figures for 2005. (see the Trussell Trust graph below).
In terms of the number of foodbanks (as opposed to the number of people using them), the next graph below shows the rate at which they have increased in the last nine years. I don’t think it requires any further comment from me.
38 Responses to “David Cameron is being totally disingenuous on food banks”
Bev Castle-Barnes
Well when the bedroom tax comes into force plus the cuts to council tax benefit AND the fact that my rent is going up…I will have about a fiver left per week for food. My nearest food bank is 2 bus trips away… I cant even afford to get there!
will
I work in the social care sector and see a great deal of abuse in terms of the benefits system. I have seen many families using the benefits system and food banks to supplement their continued irresponsible spending on consumer goods on credit thereby reducing their available funds for basics like food. Added to that a great deal of their disposable income also gets spent on cigarette’s and alcohol. I think one plus with the food banks is that they contain a healthy balance of foodstuffs in their food boxes so families on low incomes and benefits are probably benefitting from a healthier diet then their existing one or the one they can only afford. I only eat one meal a day ( yes my choice) , but this is all I need as a middle aged man in a desk job. The last thing we would want the food banks to do is increase obesity with some families using them to supplement what is effectively over consumption of food in their households already !
John
How can Cameron lecture China on human rights when he makes his own people beg to even eat!