18,596 food parcels were given out by the Trussell Trust to people in Ealing between April 2021 and March 2022, according to the charity’s end of year report. 42% of these emergency supplies were given to children in the borough. In total, over 283,000 parcels were distributed across the capital during this period.
Local London Assembly Member, Dr Onkar Sahota AM, said that these figures are “heart-wrenching” and made “even more worrying” by the fact that they “reflect the situation before the surge in energy bills and increase in National Insurance contributions”.
Dr Sahota also took aim at the recent Queen’s Speech in which the Government failed to announce any immediate measures to tackle the growing cost of living crisis. The London Assembly Member is backing calls for the National Insurance increase to be shelved and for a windfall tax on gas and oil companies which would pay for more support for low-income families and households to deal with surging energy bills. He also wants to see the uplift in Universal Credit to be restored and Local Housing Allowance to be unfrozen and increased so that it covers average rents in Harrow. The latest Government figures show that 41,985 people in the borough are being impacted by the £20 weekly cut to Universal Credit payments.
Recent research published by the Food Foundation shows that last month, more than two million adults in the UK could not afford to eat every day.
This week, the Chairman of Tesco, John Allan, warned that the country is being impacted by “real food poverty” and that an increasing number of the supermarket’s customers were using foodbanks.
Mr Allan’s comments follow advice given out by Environment Secretary, George Eustice, that those struggling should buy own-brand value products in supermarkets.
Local London Assembly Member, Dr Onkar Sahota AM, said: “It is heart-wrenching that so many local children and households can’t afford to feed themselves in one of the world’s richest economies. “Yet again, the Trussell Trust’s End of Year report makes for very concerning reading and what’s even more worrying is that these figures reflect the situation before the surge in energy bills and increase in National Insurance contributions. “It is clear that people in Ealing want to see the Government do their job and offer clear solutions to the cost of living crisis. Instead, we saw a damp squib of a Queen’s Speech, which will do very little to put more money in the pockets of those struggling. “Ministers could help those on the lowest incomes right now by strengthening our welfare system, tackling in-work poverty and shelving the National Insurance hike”.
