STUDENTS and staff at the Warrington Campus of the University of Chester have supported End Hunger Week.
The group from the Social Work Department joined together to promote the cause which sent a message to the Government on World Food Day.
More than 40 groups across the country took part in the campaign. End Hunger UK is a coalition of national charities, frontline organisations, faith groups, academics and individuals working to end hunger and poverty in the UK. It has proposed a range of policies that can reduce poverty and contribute to ending hunger.
In the past two years, nearly 20,000 people and 150 organisations have taken part in campaigns around child food insecurity during school holidays, Universal Credit, and discovering the true level of hidden hunger in the UK. Following these campaigns, the Government provided nearly £9 million this year for school holiday and activity pilot programmes, has introduced annual measurement of household food insecurity, and as part of the 2018 budget agreed to spend an extra £1.7bn to address some of the problems associated with the roll-out of Universal Credit.
Niall Cooper, chairman of End Hunger UK, said: “We all want to live in a country where everyone has access to good food and no one needs to go to bed hungry, but we need action to make that a reality. All parties need to commit to drawing up a clear roadmap to end food poverty, and the Government must act now to end hunger.
“The UK has no shortage of food. The problem is one of incomes – too many working and non-working households are being hamstrung by insufficient wages and a benefits system that does not cover people’s essential costs. Charitable emergency food provision has proliferated in the UK in the past decade and large numbers of people have been forced to turn to food aid providers. In the sixth wealthiest nation on the planet, this is simply not right.”
