News from Krupesh Hirani: Krupesh Hirani AM raises food insecurity at debut MQT appearance

Local Assembly Member highlights rise in food insecurity at his debut Mayor’s Question Time appearance

Local London Assembly Member, Krupesh Hirani AM, used his debut appearance at Mayor’s Question Time (MQT) on Thursday to raise the issue of the increasing demand placed upon food banks during the pandemic. Mr Hirani asked the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, what he would do to work towards ensuring no Londoner goes hungry during his new Mayoral term.

In his response to Mr Hirani’s question, Sadiq Khan said he would continue to address the issue of food insecurity during this Mayoral term by working with food aid partners, but warned of the emerging issue of in-work poverty. He said that the solution to this was to create “well-paid” and “futureproof” jobs in London, and that City Hall’s investment into adult education programmes would play a role in this.

During the pandemic, City Hall has also so far provided around £9m to the London Community Response Fund, which amongst other initiatives, has supported food banks across the capital.

The Mayor also praised the “brilliant work” of London’s Community Kitchen based in Harrow, but said that his recent visit with Mr Hirani was “both inspiring and heart-breaking”.

The latest figures from the Trussell Trust reveal that over 20,000 emergency food parcels were distributed from April 2020- March 2021 across its network of food banks in Brent and Harrow. This is triple the number of parcels given out during the previous year.

But in his response, the Mayor highlighted the existence of many other independent food banks across London, helping Londoners who have been pushed into food insecurity during the pandemic.

Local London Assembly Member, Krupesh Hirani AM, said:

“One of my priorities as the new London Assembly Member for Brent and Harrow is to use my voice to call for a local recovery from the pandemic that leaves no one behind.

“To achieve that, we need to directly address the stark inequalities in our communities which have been accentuated over the last year. One of the most visible of these is food insecurity, and you can see it getting worse in the long queues forming outside food banks across our capital.

“The tireless work of local organisations such as London’s Community Kitchen to help those in need is nothing short of inspiring, but it is incredibly sad to see that it has become a necessary substitute for our weakened and patchy welfare system.

“I agree with the Mayor that we can turn this very concerning situation around by creating the next generation of decently paid and high-skilled jobs. But in the short-term, we also need the Government to take other urgent measures, such as fixing the long-standing problems we have seen with Universal Credit”.

ENDS