Labour must do more to end Britain’s shameful hunger crisis

With perhaps the exception of the great depression of the 1930s, the current upsurge in hunger is unprecedented in Britain in modern times. The latest research from the Trussell Trust suggests that as many as 14 million people may be going without food, to at least some extent, against an estimated figure of 11.6 million in 2022.

At a time when, even allowing for economic difficulties, living standards for most families in the UK have generally never been higher, some 3.8 million children are growing up in homes where they and their parents are forced to skip or cut back on meals because of financial concerns. If nothing else, this represents a stark rejoinder to those who complacently assume that poverty is a thing of the past, and, to the extent that it does still persist, must be merely a consequence of laziness or fecklessness.