Conservative Environment Minister says "The poor must learn to go without" as numbers using Foodbanks doubles.
Huge rise in food bank use as demand linked to 'welfare reform'
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| Rupert Charles Ponsonby, |
In this the 21st Century
of our civilisation, it is staggering to hear an echo of an 18th
Century remark, purportedly spoken, (but never actually corroborated
as a quote) by Queen Marie Antoinette,
upon hearing that people were suffering as a result of bread
shortages. “Let them eat cake” she is alleged to have said in
response to learning that the peasants had no bread, a phrase which
has been used for almost the last 250 years, to reflect an
individuals obliviousness as to the condition of the people.
Now, in 2013, we have
Conservative Environment Minister Lord De Mauley uttering another
comment which should go into the history books. “The poor must
learn to go without” says Rupert
Charles Ponsonby, 7th Baron de Mauley, currently Parliamentary
Under-Secretary at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs. Rupert Charles Ponsonby was educated at Eton College, is
married to the younger daughter of Lord Fanshawe of Richmond and is a
hereditary peer. His
financial interests
in the Parliamentary Register of Interests include shareholdings in
Nexus Management plc
(computer services), Farmland
and other property in Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire, including
residential properties and an interest in a commercially operated
lake in West Oxfordshire.
His
knowledge of “the poor” can at best be described
as sketchy and second hand
and yet his utterances will
be seized upon by some
as true wisdom. He goes on
to advise that the poor should “resist the temptation to spend more
money on the latest electronic gadgets, clothes and food that they
will not eat” in efforts to recapture the spirit of “make, do and
mend”. Comments coming from an individual wallowing in privilege
with a lifestyle of comfort and excess, vividly
demonstrate the extent to
which the government of this country is dominated by class and rich
members of “the club” totally out of touch and understanding of
the world outside their own limited circles of advantage.
How
Rupert Charles Ponsonby, or
any of his government colleagues can reconcile their collectively
warped views with today’s reports of increased usage of foodbank
charities, remains to be seen.
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At
the end of May this year, I commented on the fact that
by then, more than half a
million people had become reliant to some extent or other, on the
provision of charity food distributed though Foodbanks around the
country. Today, we learn, that all
around the country, not only in the north but also in the “affluent”
south of England and in the west, Foodbanks are being inundated with
requests for emergency meals
far in excess of the already record number of people being referred
to the charities in May. It seems that the school holidays have
doubled the number of referrals in many areas, with families who's
children ordinarily receive free school lunches among those
struggling the most. The situation is exacerbated, because of rising
food prices, which despite Government figures are more than 4 per
cent higher than last year, and the impact of the ConDem Coalition,s
welfare changes that were launched in April are
now beginning to have an affect.
A spokesman from
Iain Duncan Smith's DWP said that: “..... there is no evidence that
welfare reforms are linked to increased use of food banks.”However, the Trussell Trust points out that the number of people going to their food banks for this reason, due to problems with benefits has risen from 20% eight years ago, to 52% today. On the question of foodbanks, it is to our collective shame that we have allowed a situation to come about, where more and more people, perhaps topping 1million by the end of this year, are reliant on charities to feed their families, and yet Rupert Charles Ponsonby, Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, says “The poor must learn to go without”.
The ConDem Coalition have little shame for, or appreciation of, the effects of their actions and policies on the lives of ordinary people. The crowning insult to add to those of Iain Duncan smith, George Osborne and the rest, are the words of Rupert Charles Ponsonby, “The poor must learn to go without”.
Shame on you Ponsonby and shame to all those who agree with you.
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