Universal Credit ‘key driver’ of increasing need for food parcels in Highland
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The number of emergency parcels handed out by food banks in Scotland rose by nearly a quarter over the last year, according to the UK’s largest food bank provider.
The Trussell Trust said its food banks provided more than 210,000 packages to people in crisis in 2018-19 – up 23 per cent from the previous year.
In Highland, 8350 of three-day emergency food supplies were provided to people in crisis by food banks. Out of this total, 2425 emergency food parcels were given to children living in the Highland area.
The food bank provider said that issues with the Tories flagship welfare reform Universal Credit were a “key driver” of increasing food poverty.
In Scotland, 42 per cent of food bank referrals made due to a delay in benefits were linked to Universal Credit.
DWP ministers recently admitted the direct link between Universal Credit and soaring food bank use – something which Tory MSPs have consistently denied.
Fergus Ewing, MSP for Inverness and Nairn, said: “Inverness was used as a test case for a flawed and damaging reform which has left people dependent on food banks in desperate poverty.
“Since its implementation in Inverness my colleague Drew Hendry MP has continued to raise the impacts that this devastating policy has had on families across on Highland.
“In a country as wealthy as ours it’s unacceptable that emergency parcels and food banks have become so commonplace – and we know, beyond any doubt, that Tory policies are to blame.
“The SNP has long made the case for a halt to the roll out of Universal Credit but those pleas fell on deaf ears. It is unacceptable for the UK government to keep side-lining this issue while families go hungry.
“The disastrous Tory record on welfare shows why Scotland should have the power to take our own approach – rather than leaving these powers at Westminster.”
