A report by the charity Trussell found that Labour would fail to deliver its manifesto promise to remove the "moral scar" of food banks unless it tackled low household incomes in this group, which amounted to one in seven people.
There were one million more people in what the report defined as "hunger and hardship" - living on income at least 25% below the relative poverty line - than five years ago, and nearly 3 million more than there were two decades ago. Trussell said the rapid growth of households that regularly struggled to afford food, heating, clothing and other basics had driven food bank use to record levels.
Trussell's chief executive, Emma Revie, said: "It's 2024 and we're facing historically high levels of food bank need. As a society, we cannot allow this to continue. We must not let food banks become the new norm."
This story is from the October 09, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
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This story is from the October 09, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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