British society is at risk of heading to the Victorian era
crisis, Action for Children warns.
British society is reentering the Victorian era crisis with thousands
of people calling for help from food and clothes banks, Britain’s leading
charity Action for Children has warned.
The charity noted that it has seen the biggest number of calls for help since
the 1940s, saying the country is once again at risk of witnessing the poorest
resorting to street begging and food scrounging.Charity spokesperson Jacob Tas said a "staggering" number of families are now turning to food banks to feed their families, with many choosing between having to eat or paying for heating or the rent.
"It's painful and unfortunate that we have now entered in a time when we go back in comparison to the 1940s, it's really horrible for those families who are basically already at the bottom of the food chain that they have to go to food banks to get their food,” he added.Tas also blamed the increasing number of people seeking help for basic necessities on the economy, unemployment, and the government’s changes to the benefits system and tax reforms and said British households are facing “the maximum squeeze from all sides”.
The charity’s remarks come after Pensions Secretary Ian Duncan Smith has accused the leaders of major food bank charity the Trussell Trust of "scaremongering" and refused to meet its leaders earlier this week.
The Trussell Trust estimated that its food banks have been used by up to 60,000 people across the UK over the two weeks leading up to Christmas Day.
This comes as only 20,000 Britons were fed during the same period in the previous year.
Earlier this month, a group of doctors and academics warned that food poverty in Britain has reached the levels of a “public health emergency that could go unrecognized until it is too late”.
The health experts raised concerns over the increase in the use of food banks and the number of malnourished cases, linking the problem to the rising cost of living and the UK government’s changes to the country's welfare system.
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