SCOTLAND’S food bank crisis will deepen unless the Westminster Tory Government reverses its austerity policies, an SNP MSP has warned.
The number of foodbank parcels handed out in Scotland has tripled in seven years, according to shocking statistics from the Trussell Trust.
This year, Trussell Trust food banks handed out 237,225 food parcels in Scotland – an increase of almost 165,000 parcels since 2013/14. An additional 278,258 emergency food parcels were given out by 91 independent food banks in Scotland between April 2018 and September 2019.
READ MORE: Food banks brace for ‘killer’ January as poverty crisis escalates
Bob Doris, MSP for Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn, said: “Food banks are working incredibly hard to continue to provide emergency food safely to people who cannot afford to buy the essentials.
“But they cannot continue to pick up the pieces because of gaps in the UK Government’s support schemes.
“While the Scottish Government has done its best to tackle poverty here, we continue to have to spend money to protect the most vulnerable in our communities from Tory cuts. The majority of welfare spending still remains firmly in the hands of the Tories.
“They dithered and delayed on extending free school meals through the holidays and had to be shamed into supporting low-income families through this pandemic.
“This UK Government must heed the warnings of frontline organisations all over the country, and act before more families and children are pushed into poverty .”
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