Millions in UK facing hunger: Survey
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Trussel Trust, a food bank charity, reveals that up to 11.3 million people are hungry in the United Kingdom.
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People carrying shopping bags walk past a souvenir shop on Oxford Street in London, Monday, April 12, 2021. (AP)
Trussel Trust, a food bank charity, revealed on Wednesday that one in seven people in the UK experienced hunger last year as a result of a lack of funds.
The poll reveals that this amounted to an estimated 11.3 million people, which is more than twice the population of Scotland.
Researchers have linked food insecurity to the UK's rising cost of living problem, which has disproportionately affected racial and ethnic minorities, the disabled, and caregivers. This crisis shows no signs of ending anytime soon.
In its network, The Trussell Trust operates more than 1,200 food banks, or almost two-thirds of all food banks in the UK.
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According to the organization, it sent a record 3 million food parcels in the year ending in March, a 37% increase and more than twice the number it did five years prior. The most recent findings, it continued, were "just the tip of the iceberg."
Around 7% of the British population was provided with charitable food support during mid-2022, while 71% were facing food shortages with no access to support.
“Food banks are not the answer when people are going without the essentials in one of the richest economies in the world. We need a social security system which provides protection and the dignity for people to cover their own essentials, such as food and bills,” Trussell Trust chief executive Emma Revie said.
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Living standards in the UK are being squeezed more severely than at any point since records have been kept in the 1950s as soaring inflation erodes wage growth for employees across practically all economic sectors.
“This consistent upward trajectory exposes that it is weaknesses in the social security system that are driving food bank need, rather than just the pandemic or cost-of-living crisis,” the report said.
In May, food inflation in the world's sixth-largest economy was running at 18.3% and 14.6% in June, according to recent official data.
Despite government efforts to reduce inflation, consumer price increases in Britain continue to be high. Government officials and trade unions accuse supermarkets of "greedflation" and profiteering at the expense of customers.
