‘Silent emergency’ as millions go hungry in Keir Starmer’s Britain

Food banks have been trying to address a crisis (Pic: Wikimedia commons)

Millions of people are going hungry in Britain while Keir Starmer promises to plough more money into arms spending.

Some 12 percent of British households are now classed as “food insecure”, a damning report from the Food Foundation, released last week, found. This equates to 6.3 million adults and 2.2 million children.

At least 2.4 million adults have not eaten for a full day in the last six months due to the lack of accessible and affordable foods.

Kitto says food insecurity “became so normal” for her during the cost of living crisis. She told Socialist Worker, “It was only recently that I’ve realised how much we were struggling.

“I lived in Brighton, paying extortionate rent and bills while me and my ex-partner were living off benefits—Universal Credit (UC) and Personal Independence Payment (Pip)—due to being unable to work.

“Neither I nor my ex was getting the Pip that we should have been on. And UC barely covered the rent and bills alone.”

This reflects the experience of millions of people in Britain. Over 38 percent of people receiving UC suffer food insecurity.

“I feel so sad thinking about that happening, but more so angry that it had been allowed to become my normal,” said Kitto.

Remy is a welfare advisor in east London. She told Socialist Worker, “One of the main causes of food insecurity is the rising ‘silent emergency’ of people becoming too ill to work, but being unable to supplement their income.

“This can be seen in the rate of Pip denials—about a quarter of my service users are refused Pip twice before being accepted.”

Remy added, “The rising cost of food and the increasing inaccessibility of large supermarkets are contributing.

“The rise of the mini-mart has meant that people are paying higher prices for the same things more often because they can’t do a big monthly shop.”

Kitto added, “I think community help such as food banks can be vital. But the issue is with the government.

“The primary issue for myself and many others is shortage of funds—whether this is from a lack of government support or poor wages.

“Wages need to be higher to start with and the government should be offering more financial support to those who need it.”