Letter to Hugo Swire MP

Dear Mr Swire

Ben Bradshaw has recently visited to the Exeter Foodbank, and describes his visit at http://www.benbradshaw.co.uk/my-visit-to-exeter-foodbank/.

He writes: “One couple had walked with their small children all the way from Clyst St George to collect their food parcel.”

It is a 5.5 mile walk each way from Clyst St George via Topsham to the Mint Methodist church in Exeter. Clyst St George is in your constituency. This family is  represented by you in Parliament, as am I.

Mr Bradshaw reports that “Since April’s changes to the Social Security system there has been a further trebling of the number of people using the service.”

A trebling! And these people are no scroungers; the Foodbank is the lifeline for many. This is a shocking indictment of your Government’s social security policies, which demonstrate a complete lack of empathy and compassion, and have hit the poorest hard. Oh, and poverty is not a crime either, however much the Government and the right-wing press demonise poor people.

How is it that in a country as wealthy as the UK, more than 500,000 people are reliant on food parcels? The report by Church Action on Poverty and Oxfam is available at http://policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/walking-the-breadline-the-scandal-of-food-poverty-in-21st-century-britain-292978

Please represent your constituents, and do something to address food poverty, injustice and inequality.

Yours sincerely
Clare Bryden