More Than 2m Britons Can't Afford To Eat Every Day

More than 2 million adults in the UK have gone without food for a whole day over the past month because they cannot afford to eat, according to a survey revealing the "catastrophic” impact of the cost of living crisis on people's nutritional intake.

- Patrick Butler, Andrew Sparrow

The latest survey of the nation's food intake shows a 57% jump in the proportion of households cutting back on food or skipping meals over the first three months of this year, with one in seven adults (7.3 million) estimated to be food-insecure, up from 4.7 million in January.

The shadow work and pensions secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, described the findings as devastating, saying they exposed how families were being left in desperate hardship. “Boris Johnson is responsible for this crisis and has no solutions to fix it," he said.

The survey came as one of Britain's biggest energy suppliers called for urgent government action to help households cope with an anticipated £1,000 rise in bills this winter. The London fire brigade meanwhile was forced to issue an urgent safety warning against improvising fires at home, after a man set fire to his house by burning timber in his living room to keep warm.

The research by the Food Foundation thinktank found millions more people - including 2.6 million children - report they now have smaller meals than usual, regularly skip meals altogether or do not eat when they are hungry, as food insecurity returned to levels last seen at the start of the first national lockdown.

However, while many reported missing meals or eating irregularly during the first months of the pandemic because of food scarcity caused by panic buying and supply problems, the latest increase is put down to rising costs and poverty.