MP vows to do more for parents skipping meals
Labour MP Emma Lewell-Buck's bill, to tackle the issue of parents being unable to afford food, will get it's second reading in Parliament later
Last updated 2nd Feb 2018
South Shields MP Emma Lewell-Buck says she'll never stop fighting for parents in our region who skip meals because they can't afford to buy food.
The Labour MP's bill to try and get the government to count the number of working poor, in a bid to show there is a problem that needs addressing, will get it's second reading in Parliament later.
Speaking ahead of the bill reading, Emma said:
"We have people coming into the office, or ringing the office, saying they're absolutely desperate - they've gone without food for a number of days, and they don't know where to go for help.
"I just don't know how anyone can think that's acceptable and how the government can keep burying their heads in the sands about this."
It comes as a group of charities are warning us that 1 in 4 parents are skipping meals because they can't afford the cost of food - as well as nationally, 1 in 12 are going entire days without eating because of the rising cost of living.
Malcolm Fallow is Chief Executive of East Durham Trust - a food bank in the region - and he says the problem is only getting worse. They've seen the number of emergency food banks they provide double in recent weeks.
One woman, who uses East Durham Trust, told us anonymously that she didn't where she would be without the service and that before, she would go days without eating and would just sit, wrapped in a blanket, and not move - because she couldn't afford gas and electric either.