We were delighted to welcome Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, to launch the Westminster Labour’s campaign to fight food poverty in Westminster.

Ashworth joined us and our candidates for Pimlico South to visit local food bank Mary Smith’s Pantry, who support residents suffering from food poverty across south Westminster. They helped people through the pandemic and now are being called on again as more families suffer with rising bills in the Conservative’s cost-of-living crisis. Yet despite all this good work, they have yet to be found a permanent home by Westminster City Council.

If Labour wins Westminster Council on 5^th May it will take action by providing more support to food banks and community kitchens, ensuring that vital services such as Mary Smith’s Pantry and the North Paddington Food Bank are able to find permanent homes and sustainable futures.

A Labour Council will:

• Develop a food poverty strategy for Westminster, a key action to be supported as part of our promised Poverty and Inequality Review, in addition to new work on health inequalities facing our BAME communities through a Joint-Strategic Needs Assessment.
• We will explore innovative new projects such as community fridges and will properly support our voluntary sector groups who are helping people face the cost-of-living crisis.
• We will ensure all schools have access to high-quality breakfast clubs and take on-going action to fight holiday hunger.

For more on Labour’s ambitious but deliverable plans to build a fairer Westminster please see our manifesto.

Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Jonathan Ashworth MP said:

“People in Westminster are being pushed into hardship by the Conservative cost of living crisis, with rising prices, soaring energy bills, and brutal real terms cuts to Universal Credit and pensions.

 Ahead of the local elections on 5th May, I am proud to be visiting Mary Smith’s Pantry with Westminster Labour’s campaign. I fully endorse their commitment to improve support for local foodbanks and families in need.”

Westminster Labour Group Leader Cllr Adam Hug said:

“Westminster Conservatives are doing nowhere near enough to help people facing the cost-of-living crisis. If Labour wins on 5^th May Westminster Council will do much more to support foodbanks and other local organisations who are working to help those most in need.”