The Labour government says it’s “on the side of working people.” Right?
On the other hand, its latest policies are hammering some of the most vulnerable in society—disabled people, children, low-paid workers—and risking an even greater surge in food bank use across the UK.
It’s a bitter irony – a party that once vowed to eliminate the need for food banks is now pursuing cuts that will almost certainly guarantee their expansion.
This month, donations through Ko-fi helped keep Vox Political going — and I’ve just posted a quick update there about what’s next.
I’m working on a new investigation, a reissued book collection (free to £20+ donors), and plenty of videos to ruffle a few feathers.
Take a look behind the scenes: https://ko-fi.com/voxpolitical
And if you’ve already chipped in — thank you. You’re making this work possible.
According to the Trussell Trust, 2.9 million emergency food parcels were handed out over the last year alone—a staggering 51 per cent increase since 2020.
More than a million of those parcels went to children.
Let that sink in.
This isn’t just the result of pandemic fallout or the cost-of-living crisis.
The latest spike is driven in part by Labour’s own March welfare cuts, which will see an estimated 250,000 people—including 50,000 children—pushed further into poverty.
And for what? A £5 billion annual reduction in the welfare bill, largely achieved by targeting Personal Independence Payments (PIP), a benefit not even tied to employment status.
These cuts won’t encourage people to work. They’ll just push more people—many of them already working—into hunger, debt, and despair.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
As Sumi Rabindrakumar of the Trussell Trust notes, three in four food bank users are disabled or live with someone who is.
This Writer knows that the claim is accurate. I have a friend who works at the local Job Centre and he says the vast majority of Personal Independence Payment claimants he knows attend food banks regularly.
The idea that slashing their support will somehow reduce food bank use is not just naive—it’s cruel. It ignores the real drivers of hunger in Britain today: low pay, insecure work, and a shredded safety net.
Let’s be clear: work is no longer a guaranteed path out of poverty in this country.
One in five food bank users is employed.
When wages don’t cover essentials, and when benefits don’t fill the gap, families are left with nowhere to turn but charity.
This is not a “crackdown on scroungers.”
It’s a crackdown on survival.
Get my free guide: “10 Political Lies You Were Sold This Decade” — just subscribe to our email list here:
👉 https://voxpoliticalonline.com
Instead of relieving pressure on food banks, Labour is outsourcing the consequences of its economic policy to overstretched charities and exhausted volunteers.
It is an abdication of responsibility dressed up as tough love.
And it flies in the face of what Labour was founded to do: protect working people and the vulnerable from market failure and social neglect.
If Labour were serious about ending food poverty, it wouldn’t be cutting support.
It would be raising it.
It would commit to a real Living Wage, universal free school meals, rent caps, and fully funded local welfare schemes.
It would rebuild the social safety net until food banks become obsolete—not permanent fixtures of British life.
We don’t need to “manage” food banks better.
We need to make them unnecessary.
This month, donations through Ko-fi helped keep Vox Political going — and I’ve just posted a quick update there about what’s next.
I’m working on a new investigation, a reissued book collection (free to £20+ donors), and plenty of videos to ruffle a few feathers.
Take a look behind the scenes: https://ko-fi.com/voxpolitical
And if you’ve already chipped in — thank you. You’re making this work possible.
Labour is at a crossroads.
The decisions it makes now will shape whether Britain becomes a country where dignity and support are rights—or privileges.
If Starmer continues down this path, history won’t judge him as the man who rescued the country from Tory austerity.
He’ll be remembered as the one who legitimized it – in red.
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
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5) Follow Vox Political writer Mike Sivier on BlueSky
6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical
7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
Starmer’s social security cuts will fuel food bank Britain when he should be ending it
The Labour government says it’s “on the side of working people.” Right?
On the other hand, its latest policies are hammering some of the most vulnerable in society—disabled people, children, low-paid workers—and risking an even greater surge in food bank use across the UK.
It’s a bitter irony – a party that once vowed to eliminate the need for food banks is now pursuing cuts that will almost certainly guarantee their expansion.
This month, donations through Ko-fi helped keep Vox Political going — and I’ve just posted a quick update there about what’s next.
I’m working on a new investigation, a reissued book collection (free to £20+ donors), and plenty of videos to ruffle a few feathers.
Take a look behind the scenes: https://ko-fi.com/voxpolitical
And if you’ve already chipped in — thank you. You’re making this work possible.
According to the Trussell Trust, 2.9 million emergency food parcels were handed out over the last year alone—a staggering 51 per cent increase since 2020.
More than a million of those parcels went to children.
Let that sink in.
This isn’t just the result of pandemic fallout or the cost-of-living crisis.
The latest spike is driven in part by Labour’s own March welfare cuts, which will see an estimated 250,000 people—including 50,000 children—pushed further into poverty.
And for what? A £5 billion annual reduction in the welfare bill, largely achieved by targeting Personal Independence Payments (PIP), a benefit not even tied to employment status.
These cuts won’t encourage people to work. They’ll just push more people—many of them already working—into hunger, debt, and despair.
Buy Cruel Britannia in print here. Buy the Cruel Britannia ebook here. Or just click on the image!
As Sumi Rabindrakumar of the Trussell Trust notes, three in four food bank users are disabled or live with someone who is.
This Writer knows that the claim is accurate. I have a friend who works at the local Job Centre and he says the vast majority of Personal Independence Payment claimants he knows attend food banks regularly.
The idea that slashing their support will somehow reduce food bank use is not just naive—it’s cruel. It ignores the real drivers of hunger in Britain today: low pay, insecure work, and a shredded safety net.
Let’s be clear: work is no longer a guaranteed path out of poverty in this country.
One in five food bank users is employed.
When wages don’t cover essentials, and when benefits don’t fill the gap, families are left with nowhere to turn but charity.
This is not a “crackdown on scroungers.”
It’s a crackdown on survival.
Get my free guide: “10 Political Lies You Were Sold This Decade” — just subscribe to our email list here:
👉 https://voxpoliticalonline.com
Instead of relieving pressure on food banks, Labour is outsourcing the consequences of its economic policy to overstretched charities and exhausted volunteers.
It is an abdication of responsibility dressed up as tough love.
And it flies in the face of what Labour was founded to do: protect working people and the vulnerable from market failure and social neglect.
If Labour were serious about ending food poverty, it wouldn’t be cutting support.
It would be raising it.
It would commit to a real Living Wage, universal free school meals, rent caps, and fully funded local welfare schemes.
It would rebuild the social safety net until food banks become obsolete—not permanent fixtures of British life.
We don’t need to “manage” food banks better.
We need to make them unnecessary.
This month, donations through Ko-fi helped keep Vox Political going — and I’ve just posted a quick update there about what’s next.
I’m working on a new investigation, a reissued book collection (free to £20+ donors), and plenty of videos to ruffle a few feathers.
Take a look behind the scenes: https://ko-fi.com/voxpolitical
And if you’ve already chipped in — thank you. You’re making this work possible.
Labour is at a crossroads.
The decisions it makes now will shape whether Britain becomes a country where dignity and support are rights—or privileges.
If Starmer continues down this path, history won’t judge him as the man who rescued the country from Tory austerity.
He’ll be remembered as the one who legitimized it – in red.
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Be among the first to know what’s going on! Here are the ways to manage it:
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (bottom right of the home page). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
5) Follow Vox Political writer Mike Sivier on BlueSky
6) Join the MeWe page at https://mewe.com/p-front/voxpolitical
7) Feel free to comment!
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
Cruel Britannia is available
in either print or eBook format here:
The Livingstone Presumption is available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
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