Explosion of food bank usage in Swansea is the shameful legacy of austerity.

Shocking figures released this week by the Trussell Trust show the number of emergency food parcels being handed out in Swansea has increased by a shocking a 103% since 2017. Furthermore, research from The Food Foundation revealed that 4.7 million adults and 2.5 million children currently living in food insecurity in Britain.

Now with weekly food bills skyrocketing, inflation at a generational high, and with rapidly rising energy and petrol prices taking hold, I am concerned that more families could become reliant on support from food banks.

It’s shocking but not surprising that food bank usage is up so drastically in Swansea because my constituents have been hammered by a wasted decade of Tory austerity.

Welfare cuts, and broken promises on infrastructure investment like rail electrification and the tidal lagoon have had a real impact on my constituents.
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It has already been a tough winter for the 5600 families in Gower who were hit by the Tories £1000 cut to universal credit. Now families are having to brace themselves for the biggest drop in living standards in thirty years.

Steep price increases in everyday and essential food items are going to make the situation worse and I am worried that increasing numbers of households are going to struggle to cope.

While inflation is spiralling and the cost-of-living crisis is taking hold, the Tories are preoccupied with infighting as Boris Johnson clings desperately onto his job.

Swansea and Gower residents deserve better from this government and they won’t get it while Boris Johnson is in charge.