The head of a Christian charity running hundreds of food banks across the UK still wants to discuss the economic crisis with the Government, despite being accused of “scaremongering” by the Work and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith.
Before Christmas Mr Duncan Smith refused to meet officials from the Salisbury-based Trussell Trust which believes government policy is making the situation worse. He criticised the charity for its “political messaging”.
The trust claims that more than 500,000 people, many of them children, have received emergency food from the charity since April. It is opening new banks at a rate of two or three a week. Chris Mould, its executive chairman, told The Tablet this week: “We are not scaremongering, we are just trying to reflect what we see.”
But after months of what Mr Mould described as delay and denial, the charity’s request for a meeting with the Secretary of State was rejected. “Obviously we cannot insist,” he said, “but we still want to talk. The information is there for us to share.”
He said that the Trust had increased the number of food banks from 100 five years ago to more than 400 today.
Mr Mould said he did not expect any reduction in the charity’s workload. Because inflation is outstripping economic recovery, people’s income in real terms was being eroded, especially if they were on benefits, he said.
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