Tories seek to avert rift with Church of England over food bank report
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| A foodbank in the United Kingdom in the year 2014. |
A church funded all-party
report is published today,(8th December 2014), on the increased use
of food banks in this country and warning that Britain is stalked by
low pay, growing inequality, a harsh benefits section scheme and
social breakdown. It is perhaps fitting that the report is published
just two weeks before Christmas, highlighting the growing phenomena
of food bank usage in the United Kingdom. The Tories have of course
attempted to distance themselves from any blame associated with this
scandal, with one minister claiming that the increased use of food
banks is due to the greater publicity about their existence. The
Department of Work and Pensions, remain adamant that the
administration of the benefit system has little to do with people
resorting to food banks, notwithstanding the fact that the report is
highly critical of the way in which the benefits system is
administered and the consequential delays in payment of benefits not
only to those unemployed but also to those claiming additional
benefits due to low pay.
Over recent months and
years, I have been very critical of the circumstances which have led
to over 1 million people today being reliant on food banks and food
by charities. The number of people claiming additional support due to
insufficient income is indicative of a society which has become
reliant on low pay employment, zero hour contracts and a high
incidence of part-time employment, all of which are used by the
government as indications of a growing economy and increased levels
of employment. Nothing could be further from the truth.
During this period, there
have been voices raised by government ministers some organisations
and elements of the press, suggesting that people are using food
banks because either they are unable to budget their incomes
properly, or because the food is free, or perhaps their priorities
for household expenditure are somehow directed towards cigarettes,
alcohol and plasma televisions. It is regrettable that this warped
perspective has found its way into the minds of many people who would
normally not entertain such bigoted views, but have been influenced
by the leader items of the Express, Telegraph, Mail and other right
wing media. Today's article in the Observer is no exception with one
letter in the comments section, actually stating that, “The
benefits system as I well know will support you if you budget
sensibly these people are so ignorant the word budget is beyond their
comprehension”. The way in which this attitude has contaminated
large sections of public opinion, is both sinister and worrying. The
government has was sometime been engaged in a conscious program of
demonisation not only of food bank users but also of benefit
claimants generally. The purpose of this program is to ensure that
the concept of divide and rule is applied throughout society, where
the employed are set against the unemployed, where the sick are set
against the able-bodied and where differences between peoples are
highlighted and emphasised in order to gain political advantage.
It may well be true that
there are some users of food banks and food by charities who abuse
the system albeit that with the requirements of referral by social
services, probation services or other such government bodies, will
make abuse of the system difficult. However, there is little doubt
that the vast majority of the 1 million people who currently use food
banks or other such charities, are reliant on these bodies through no
fault of their own and do not deserve to be targets of bigoted and
ill informed individuals spouting bile and other obscenities through
the press as with comments columns of online newspapers.
There seems to be little
prospect of the numbers rely on food banks will reduce any time soon,
as we are promised a further period of years for cuts and austerity
to be the norm in British society. It is predicted that the United
Kingdom is reverting to a society not seen since the 1930s, without
the Welfare State and without any form of social conscience. It is a
scandal and an outrage that we as a nation, allow such circumstances
to occur and to perpetuate. The blame lies with successive
governments going back as far as the previous Labour administration,
but exacerbated over the period of the current ConDem coalition
during the last five years. It is a situation about which we should
all feel a collective shame, for allowing this scandal to continue.
Perhaps with a general election due in May of next year, there may be
a change but from the evidence thus far, all political parties are
promising a continuation of its territory. It is a scandal and it is
unacceptable.
Perhaps today's report,
may have some influence on the philosophy of this government but the
evidence suggests that this is unlikely to be the case.
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