Liverpool is at its 'worst point' in the food poverty crisis as the city's foodbanks can no longer keep up with the huge demand from struggling families.
Yesterday shocking new figures from the Trussell Trust showed that over the past 12 months, the charity distributed more than 3 million food parcels - with more than a million children living in homes receiving the trust's food parcels.
The situation in Liverpool reflects these bleak national figures, with campaigners saying things are at their worst point of the cost of living crisis, with Liverpool's food banks no longer able to keep up with soaring demand.
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Naomi Maynard is the good food programme director at Feeding Liverpool and works to link people up with food help across Liverpool.
She said: "The figures announced by the Trussell Trust reflect everything we have been seeing in Liverpool. Our latest figures show that in the city, more than 2,000 emergency food parcels are going out every week.
"That is already a huge number and these figures were from December and from what we know on the ground, this number has definitely gone up. It has been a very tough first quarter of the year."
Ms Maynard said that while the Trussell Trust has seen a 25% rise in people coming to its Liverpool foodbanks for help, other centres have seen bigger rises with families particularly badly hit.
She said: "The North Liverpool food bank has seen a 50% rise in families needing emergency food over the past year. These are parents with children who simply cannot make ends meet.
"We have to remember that in many parts of Liverpool, we were already starting from a low base before the pandemic and then things just got worse."
Liverpool has long-running deprivation issues but where foodbanks were previously well stocked, with regular donations coming in - they are now running out of food.
Ms Maynard added: "Foodbanks in the city are really struggling now. We used to have big mountains of food in reserve but over the past year the donations have fallen because middle-income people are being squeezed now.
"This is the worst point the city has been at. It is the worst I have known it. Demand is outstripping donations and foodbanks are having to apply for grants to try and get enough food in to help people. The system just isn't working anymore."
She added that she was shocked to hear comments from Bank of England chief economist Huw Pill, who said Britons need to 'accept that they are worse off.'
Ms Maynard added: "It's quite a dangerous narrative to try and build with this blanket approach. We cannot tell people on the lowest incomes, who can't afford basic essentials already, that they need to accept being poorer or justify poverty in this way. It is dangerous."
Liverpool West Derby MP Ian Byrne has led the campaign for a legal Right to Food to fight food poverty. He said the latest figures show that urgent change is now needed.
He said: "These are horrific figures showing the scale of hunger in our communities and we need this Government to act. We have millions hungry, unable to put a regular meal on the table. In our great city of Liverpool we have 1 in 3 in food poverty.
"We need systemic change & a #RightToFood now because this cannot continue, for gods sake it’s 2023 not 1823 in one of the richest countries in the world. Hunger is a political choice and they can choose with a Right to Food to address this scourge of hunger. We don’t need tinkering around the edges or sticking plasters we need the kitchen sink thrown at it."
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