Yahoo – AFP,
Roland JACKSON, 5 December 2019
 |
As record numbers of Britons flock to food banks and homelessness soars, for many
people rampant poverty, not Brexit, is the main issue in next week's general election |
As record
numbers of Britons are forced to use food banks and homelessness soars, for
many people rampant poverty, not Brexit, is the main issue in next week's
general election.
In Slough,
west of London and just four miles (6.4 kilometres) from Queen Elizabeth II's
opulent Windsor Castle residence, ex-drug addict John unwraps Christmas
chocolates.
"Without
these people, we wouldn't be able to eat so... people like us couldn't really
exist," he told AFP at a food bank operating out of a Baptist church near
a sex shop.
Anti-hunger
campaigners the Trussell Trust, which runs the facility and more than 1,200
food banks like it, handed out a record 823,145 emergency parcels -- which each
comprise food for three days -- in the six months to September.
That was
the busiest half-year since the organisation was created in 1997 and marked a
23-percent surge from the same period of 2018.
In Slough,
a large industrial town of 162,000 people best known in recent years as the
drab setting for comedian Ricky Gervais' cult comedy "The Office",
the increase was 29 percent.
The jump in
demand was partly from the working poor struggling to make ends meet.
As polls
approach next Thursday, Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the main
opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn have both vowed to address glaring
inequality.
 |
Access to
food banks is granted via referrals from care professionals like
doctors and
social workers, who issue vouchers
|
But more
than a decade after the global financial crisis that sparked a vicious
worldwide recession, many cities, towns and villages across Britain have yet to
recover from harsh austerity.
'Full of
poverty'
"Slough
is in such a bad state," said John, who declined to give his real name.
"This
place is full of poverty and where there's poverty there's drugs, and where
there's drugs there's going to be addicts, and where there's addicts there's
going to be burglaries...
"What
I find ridiculous is no (politician) is speaking about the main issues which
(are) mental health and poverty and drugs addiction ... within communities that
are receiving less money."
Austerity-driven
changes to the welfare system have hit the poorest the hardest over the last
decade, campaigners argue.
Those
concerns were amplified a year ago when the United Nations accused the British
government of being in a "state of denial" about a growing rich-poor
divide.
Since the
financial crisis, the government implemented across-the-board cuts and spending
freezes.
There were
also attempts to restructure the Universal Credit welfare payments system to
encourage people to work.
 |
Sue
Sibany-King manages the food bank at the Slough Baptist Church in
a large
industrial town of 162,000 people
|
The
programme is deeply unpopular because claimants must wait five weeks for their
first payment, which can push the poorest into more debt and poverty, food bank
volunteers say.
The
independent Social Metrics Commission estimates there are 14.3 million Britons
in poverty or just over one in five of the population. About 4.6 million of
those are children.
The SMC
adds however that the poverty rate held between 21 and 25 percent since early
2000, under governments of all political colours.
"Household
income has been affected by welfare changes, rises in the cost of living and in
particular, rents," added Judith Cavanagh, coordinator at charity
coalition End Child Poverty.
"This
is why two-thirds of children in poverty now come from a working household.
Families are finding that they have to cut back on essentials like food,
heating and clothing."
Meanwhile,
homelessness is soaring and accounts for one fifth of food bank usage.
Increasingly,
many homeless people are in work yet unable to afford housing.
"Homelessness
is the most extreme expression of poverty," said Jasmine Basran, policy
and public affairs manager at charity Crisis UK.
"We
know people are pushed into homelessness when they cannot afford to cover the
cost of basic essentials -- their rent, their food, their bills."
There were
171,000 homeless families and individuals sleeping on streets, in cars, buses
or emergency accommodation, a 2017 study from Crisis UK indicated.
 |
The
Trussell Trust, which runs more than 1,200 food banks, handed out a record
823,145 emergency parcels -- which each comprise food for three days
-- in the
six months to September
|
Homelessness crisis
Britain
faces a "homelessness crisis" requiring immediate action, said
Basran, whose charity wants the next government to unfreeze benefits, build
social housing and invest in services.
Similarly
it wants an end to food banks, which, while currently playing a "critical
role", should not be necessary.
"People
should be receiving the support they need to be able to live and thrive,"
said Basran.
Access to
food banks is granted via referrals from care professionals like doctors and
social workers, who issue vouchers.
Back in
Slough, John, who lives in temporary accommodation after being homeless,
remains unconvinced the election will change anything for the poor.
"I
think all politics is bullshit and they need to have someone who is a bit more
realistic and lived on the streets of London, on the poverty side," he
said.
"They
need someone like that in charge. Only someone that has come through the gutter
would know what it's like."
