Food banks are simply one indication that the government is presiding over a shocking increase in poverty and deprivation. There are many more.
Food banks are a good example of David Cameron’s Big Society in action: do it yourself, because we no longer care.
If that sounds like a rather harsh assessement it is because it is increasingly hard to reach any other conclusion. As Chris Mould, executive chairman of the Trussell Trust, a charity which provides food banks, puts it:
“We’re talking about mums not eating for days because they’ve been sanctioned for seemingly illogical reasons.”
By sanctioned he means had their benefits stopped.
The awareness of what is going on is out there, but the government is either in denial or is genuinely unconcerned with the plight of those who are having to seek out food banks in order to fill their stomachs.
A case in point is the fact that the coalition has today blamed the increase in the number of people using food banks on a greater number of foodbanks. “The Trussell Trust itself says it is opening three new food banks every week, so it’s not surprising more people are using them,” a government spokesperson said.
It is perhaps unsurprising that the government should feel this way. It would, after all, be unusual for a Conservative-led coalition to be devoid of the pessimism about human nature that conservatism is known for – i.e. people with full stomachs are obviously just visiting food banks for free food, right?
Were we only seeing a rise in the number of food banks there might be an argument to be had. But we aren’t. Food banks are simply one indication that the government is presiding over a shocking increase in poverty and deprivation. Here are a few others:
1. Rough sleeping in London has increased by 13 per cent in the past year, with 6,437 people sleeping rough in the capital in 2012.
2. 50,000 council tenants are facing eviction because of the Bedroom Tax, with potentially tens of thousands more also affected.
3. The number of people working on zero hour contracts has surged since the coalition came to power in 2010, with some estimating that around 1 million people – 4 per cent of the workforce – are now on precarious zero-hour contracts.
4. Britain has suffered a substantial fall in real wages – the second biggest out of all the G20 countries – since the coalition government took office.
5. The number of people using food banks to feed themselves and their families has gone from 40,000 a year under Labour to over 350,000 in the last six months alone.
During his time in opposition, David Cameron liked to refer to “broken Britain”. Judging be some of the dreadful statistics now coming out on a regular basis, he has a funny way of fixing it.
25 Responses to “Food banks and five statistics that shame the Coalition”
Joe Bloggs
I have heard of people having to catch a bus to sign on and in rural areas buses don’t run very often. The bus is delayed by road works and arrives five minutes late. The claimant is then sanctioned and loses two weeks dole money. Of course not all Jobcentres are like this but the ones in “Pilot Areas” are. Not true? Well there’s no smoke without fire!
Joe Bloggs
The system IS CORRUPT and I can speak from experience. Incidentally my background has always been in Technical Support in electrical and electronic engineering. I eventually had the misfortune to work for a bad employer that banned Trades Unions and once staff had no protection their managers treated them like dirt. I left that hell-hole and tried to make a fresh start.
One day at the Jobcentre there was a job advertised that was right up my street “Electrical Maintenance Person Required”. I could have done that job standing on my head so I noted down the details and spoke to the clerk about the job. There was another woman further back in the Jobcentre who was eavesdropping. Suddenly she blurted out “Oh that ones gone, Fred’s having that.” Well I don’t know who Fred was but presumably he was a friend or a relative of the Jobcentre clerk. Good game isn’t it? Tell all the hopefuls that the job has been taken and Fred won’t have any competition at the interview!
DON’T TELL ME THAT THE SYSTEM IS NOT CORRUPT!
Joe Bloggs
Workhouses would be far too expensive so the modern technique is to railroad people into accepting zero-hours-contracts. The problem with such contracts is that in recessionary times the employees are rarely called in to work. This leaves them with no earnings, no dole and frequently no food.
Joe Bloggs
I suspect that Popsy has had several bad experiences with “the system”.
Joe Bloggs
May I show you all the Big Picture? Here it is “Capitalist economies NEED five to ten percent unemployment to prevent wage inflation.” The corollary has to be that unemployed people are actually doing a good job of keeping down wages thereby helping the country to export.
Unfortunately “The System” wants it both ways.