We must avoid a poverty of ambition on foodbanks
—Milton Keynes, where Labour’s National Policy Forum is meeting this month, is the type of place which Labour needs to win in order to gain a majority in 2015. Labour’s candidate in Milton Keynes South, Andrew Pakes, recently highlighted the 70 per cent rise in foodbank use in the town in just one year. Identifying ways that Labour will tackle the causes of the crisis head-on, both in Milton Keynes and across the United Kingdom, is vital if we want to present a credible and real alternative to voters next year.
Labour needs policies that map out the party’s direction of travel and which articulate a vision for Britain at the end of a first Labour government and beyond. Like a satnav, policies alone are pretty useless unless you know where you are heading or which destinations you wish to avoid.
Labour’s vision in the run-up to the next election needs to draw together a range of policies to address the worst impact of the current government’s policies on the most vulnerable in society. With over half of the 13 million people in poverty living in working households, our policies need to include: how we ensure work pays; providing more security of employment for those in work; and tackling hunger in target groups, such as the 1.2 million children in poverty not currently receiving free school meals. In particular, we need a clear and articulate line on where we are going with welfare. Currently our policy appears to hover between condemning the government for the fact that its welfare reforms are forcing people to use foodbanks and stating that we will be tougher. This nods to both sides in the debate, satisfying neither and failing to provide a simple, coherent message on the doorstep.
Those on the frontline in addressing food poverty are clear that the prime cause of the problem is the coalition’s policy on welfare, not just the overall cost of living. Our policy on welfare reforms should: reflect this and pledge to reinstate the safety net principle; address an often unfairly applied and failing system of sanctions; and resolve the chronic systemic and cruel delays in dealing with benefit claims in the first place. Unless Labour’s reforms achieve this, the rise in use of foodbanks in Britain will not stop. The United Nations and a number of UK charities have warned that we are fast approaching a situation in which foodbanks could soon become a permanent feature of welfare rather than a temporary aberration. This is simply not acceptable in the seventh richest country in the world. Foodbanks will not, however, simply disappear the day after a Labour victory. For food poverty to be tackled, political will needs to exist at the highest level. We need a policy commitment in its own right to achieve ‘zero hunger’.
Labour can show leadership on this issue and should place responsibility for tackling the issue where it can make most difference. Rachel Reeves, as incoming secretary of state for work and pensions, should coordinate a cross-government policy response to food poverty and commit to end the need for foodbanks by the end of a first Labour government.
A good starting point for looking for potential manifesto commitments on tackling food poverty is the recommendations in Below the Breadline, the recent report by the Trussell Trust, Oxfam and Church Action on Poverty. The report throws down a challenge to all parties about the approach currently being followed. Unless Labour takes up this challenge, and deals with the systemic problems, any incoming Labour secretary of state will face the same accusations of being responsible for an abhorrent and unnecessary continued rise in food poverty.
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Fiona Twycross is a member of the London assembly
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