“More foodbanks than McDonald’s” – Ian Byrne MP challenges PM on food crisis
Liverpool West Derby MP Ian Byrne has called out Prime Minister Boris Johnson in Parliament over the “humanitarian crisis of food poverty” faced by millions in the UK.
Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons on Wednesday 23 February, Mr Byrne challenged the Government over its plan to tackle food poverty amid a cost-of-living crisis that is hitting families across the country.
He directly asked Prime Minister Boris Johnson about the Government’s Sustainable Development Goals agreed in 2015 and specifically about its commitment to end food poverty, which the Government has pledged to achieve domestically by 2030.
Mr Byrne told the Prime Minister: “We have a humanitarian crisis of food poverty in all constituencies represented in this house. We’ve got more foodbanks than McDonald’s.”
The West Derby MP went on to ask Mr Johnson who in Government is responsible for delivering the Government’s plan to end food poverty and finished by asking the Prime Minister to send him a copy of that plan.
Mr Byrne told the House of Commons: “People now face freezing homes at this very moment because of the horrific cost of living crisis and because of political choices that have been made by this government. In 2015 the government signed up to delivering the 2030 sustainable development goals domestically, including ending hunger.
“Can the Prime Minister tell me who and what department is responsible for delivering this goal to end hunger domestically and can he send me a copy of his plan to deliver it?”
Mr Byrne has been leading the Right To Food campaign in Parliament since November 2020 and has been a food poverty campaigner since 2015, when he co-founded Fans Supporting Foodbanks to collect food donations for Liverpool foodbanks from football fans attending home matches at the grounds of Liverpool FC and Everton FC. Fans Supporting Foodbanks is now a national network and is partnering Mr Byrne on the Right To Food campaign.