With record numbers of people relying on charities to eat, the debate about food poverty in the UK has intensified. In September 2013 Michael Gove controversially claimed that those who use such charities ‘have only got themselves to blame’ for mismanaging their finances. More recently Iain Duncan Smith has been engaged in a heated, public row with the charity sector about UK food poverty. On the other side of the debate, in Walking the breadline, food poverty is described as a ‘national disgrace’. Some would argue that, long before the controversy and debate, there have always been demographic groups for whom accessing food is profoundly difficult in the UK. For example, homeless people, those addicted to drugs and alcohol and those fleeing domestic abuse.
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Tags:
charities, diet and nutrition, FareShare, food poverty, poverty