Labour calls for new coronavirus food plan

Labour has called for a new coronavirus food plan to become part of new farming and food laws, as part of an amendment to the Agriculture Bill.

The amendment, tabled by Labour, would commit the government to producing an emergency food plan within six months of the bill being made law. This follows reports showing how foodbanks increased by an average of almost 60 per cent and that 1.5 million people had gone a whole day without eating since the start of the lockdown.

Luke Pollard, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said: “The government needs to step in and do more to make sure everyone has enough to eat. The coronavirus crisis has exposed serious issues in our food supply system, that are pushing more and more families into food poverty.

“With more people struggling to make ends meet on Universal Credit and an extension of furlough until October there needs to be a new political urgency around ensuring everyone can afford food. Nobody should be worrying about where their next meal is going to come from.”