Cheltenham Residents send Food Poverty message to Government Leaders

Local activists will use the Tory Party Hustings at Cheltenham Racecourse to publicise
the appalling rise in the need for Food Banks. They are inviting local people to bring
food bank donations to a collection point at the Cheltenham Racecourse entrance to
the Hustings at 6.00pm on Thursday 11 August. Donations will then be distributed
urgently to food banks across Cheltenham. Conservative Party members attending the
hustings will be invited to make a card or cash donation to established Cheltenham
Food Banks.

Geoff Gibbons, speaking on behalf of Action for Living, a local umbrella group for any
political party or none said:

‘The country is in crisis, the Prime Minister and the Chancellor are on holiday, and
the government is leaderless whilst Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak have their private
election. Meanwhile, millions of people are worrying now about how they will feed
their families and heat their homes during the coming winter. People are facing an
80% energy cap rise on 1st October and these leaders are talking about not wanting
to encourage “handouts.” So, we are appealing to people in Cheltenham to show
that they care.’

Background

The latest round of hustings in the Conservative Party leadership contest will be in
Cheltenham Racecourse on the evening of Thursday 11th August. The two contenders
are Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss.

“Meanwhile food bank teams across the
UK are struggling to find the resources to cope with the levels of demand they are
seeing. Food and financial donations have dropped, and some food banks are having
to dip into their financial reserves to pay for food. The situation is becoming more
alarming by the day and charitable food aid providers are running out of options.
IFAN recently wrote to the Prime Minister and the Chancellor warning them that food
banks are reaching breaking point. IFAN is calling on the UK Government to urgently
introduce cash first interventions to reduce rapidly increasing poverty levels across the
UK and at the very least to uprate benefits in line with inflation. “
Independent Food Aid Network – IFAN (Website)

“[2022] is the first time food banks in the Trussell Trust’s network
have provided more than 2 million parcels, outside of 2020/21, at the height of the
pandemic. Alarmingly, more than 830,000 parcels were provided for children,
representing a 15% increase from 2019/20 when 720,000 were provided.”
Trussell Trust (Website)

“The latest prediction from Cornwall Insights, based
on Ofgem’s new methodology, is an 81% price cap rise in October (taking typical bill to £3,582/year) and a further 19% in January (so £4,266/year).”
Martin Lewis on Twitter 9 August 2022

In March 2022 the Price Cap was £1,227, so this is an increase of over £3,000 or 240% in just 9 months.

Action for Living – Cheltenham is a group of local citizens who have come together to
take positive action to support families facing the cost of living crisis and to highlight
the lack of any urgency and effective action from government leaders and politicians.

Food Banks across Cheltenham include: