An Opposition Day debate on food banks was secured by Labour in the Commons on 18th December. Catherine hoped to be able to speak in the debate, but because it was so oversubscribed was unfortunately unable to do so. This is a copy of the speech she had hoped to make:

Yesterday, my constituency office took a call from a young ex-serviceman living in Newcastle. He is in receipt of a war pension, Employment Support Allowance and Disability Living Allowance. But – like far too many of my constituents – he has suffered at the hands of ATOS, with his claims for support being repeatedly rejected.  He has therefore been forced to go through the appeal and tribunal process for both the ESA and DLA. During his most recent appeal, this young man was only able to receive the ‘assessment rate’ of ESA – that is £71.70, instead of £106.50 a week. Or, in other words, he was missing out on £34.80 a week to which he was entitled.

This loss of income led to my constituent approaching the Royal British Legion for support, who put him in contact with a local food bank. And this proud, young ex-serviceman was then forced to rely on a food bank for around four weeks whilst he waited to receive the support for which he is eligible. This situation is an absolute disgrace – and totally undermines the appalling views of the Secretary of State for Education that the increasing numbers of people using food banks do so because ‘they are not best able to manage their finances’. But this situation is not a new one – with the Sunday Express reporting last December on the increasing numbers of servicemen and their families, some of whom are still serving – forced to turn to a food bank for assistance.

So, what does this say about Britain today? What have we come to when, during a recent visit to a doctors’ surgery in my constituency, I heard that – on an almost daily basis – the GPs and their support staff are giving patients the bus fare to get to the nearest food bank, from their own pockets? No doubt the Prime Minister would welcome this as the perfect example of the ‘Big Society’ in action. He would possibly go so far to suggest that it’s saving the taxpayer money in the long-term as patients able to obtain a decent square meal are less likely to need to see their doctor so often. But, I believe this appalling state of affairs is a sad reflection of the cost of living crisis facing millions of hard-pressed families and individuals up and down the country under this Prime Minister and Coalition Government.

While out-of-touch Ministers might like to kid themselves that the threefold national increase in food bank usage in the last 12 months is a result of posters in local job centres – those of us in the real world know that increasing numbers of people now turning to food banks for help are in work but still unable to meet the basic cost of living. Indeed, this is backed up by a report on food banks published back in December 2012 by Newcastle CVS, which stated:

‘Food bank users come from across the city including affluent areas such as Gosforth. It is not just people on benefits using food banks; the food banks report increasing numbers of working people on low incomes accessing their services. The presence of people from affluent areas and of people in work can be masked by presenting aggregated statistics…’

 It went on:

‘The food banks report that they can hand out all they bring in. This indicates that the need for free food in Newcastle is widespread and increasing…’

And this worrying trend has continued as, in the North East, the number of people using food banks between April and September 2013 alone was almost triple the number using them for the whole of the 2012/13 financial year. Indeed, the West End Food Bank, which serves my Newcastle North constituents – operated by the Trussell Trust, and opened in March 2013 to cope with the ever increasing demand – has supported a staggering 7,410 people in the last 8 months alone. Of those 7,410 people provided with emergency food aid, a distressing 3,622 were children.

There is no doubt that many, many people and firms across Newcastle are very generous with the support they provide to food banks – whether through local donation points, such as the one at the Tesco Chapel Park store I supported recently.  The time and effort given by the volunteers at food banks in the city operated by fantastic charities, including the Trussell Trust or FareShare. Or the staff at Your Homes Newcastle who distribute surplus food from their Newburn warehouse, donated by local firms such as Greggs.

But – as a follow up report by CVS Newcastle, published just last week, concluded:

‘The voluntary and community sector, including faith organisations, is responding to need, but we shouldn’t need food banks in the sixth richest country in the world.’

 But is it any wonder that so many households and families are struggling to cope, when for 41 out of the 42 months that David Cameron has been in Downing Street, the cost of living has risen faster than wages? The stark reality is that average earnings have fallen in real terms in every region and nation of the country on this Government’s watch, while the cost of family essentials continues to go up and up. Gas and electricity bills have risen by an average of £300 a year – and will still be going up by an average £70 this winter, despite the Chancellor’s pledges. The cost of nursery places has increased by 30% under the Prime Minster. And households are spending 12% more on food bills than in 2007, despite actually purchasing 4.2% less food.

To get a better understanding of the cost of living issues facing my constituents I recently launched a survey on my website – and the results I have received so far are pretty stark. 60% of those responding feel their living standards have gone down; and 72% predict that they will continue to go down over the next few years. 68% see the cost of food as one of their biggest financial concerns – while 87% see rising energy bills as one of their biggest worries.

These families across my constituency need decisive action on the cost of living now. If we are to stem the tide of people using food banks, we need a Government that stands up for the millions of families and pensioners in our country struggling with rising energy bills, rising prices, falling wages and higher childcare costs. Not one that stands up for the interests of the powerful and privileged few, and prioritises a tax cut for millionaires. But the sheer complacency we have seen so far from this Government on food banks, and on cost of living issues generally, tells me that my constituents will have to wait for 2015, and the next Labour Government, to get a Prime Minister who is on their side.