Murphy unveils 5 point plan to eradicate food banks in Scotland

Today Scottish labour leader Jim Murphy will unveil the party’s plan to eradicate food banks in Scotland.

This will centre round a £175 million Scottish Anti-Poverty Fund. But Murphy will also reiterate 5 of Scottish Labour’s policies that will help to “make food banks history in Scotland”. It reads as follows:

• Abolishing the  bedroom tax
• Scrapping government targets for benefit sanctions
• Banning exploitative zero hour contracts, raising the minimum wage and extending the living wage.
• Capping energy bills and and stopping rent from rising at too fast a rate.
• Using money made from taxing legal loan sharks to put into credit unions.

This comes after the number of food banks used in Scotland has been on the rise in the past 4 years; in 2011 there was one Trussell Trust food bank, in November 2014 there were 48.

Rachel Reeves, Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, who’ll be joining Murphy at his speech today, has said:

 “In just 44 days’ time people in Scotland can decide the general election. Scotland can get rid of the Food Bank Prime Minister and elect a Labour Government which will protect vulnerable people across the UK by scrapping the bedroom tax. 

“A UK Labour Government scrapping the bedroom tax means more money in the Scottish budget to support and protect those have borne the brunt of five years of the Tories. David Cameron’s failure to tackle low pay has led to an 1147% increase in the number of people in Scotland using food banks.

 “Scotland can protect vulnerable people across the UK and deliver more money in the Scottish budget with a UK Labour Government.”

 Meanwhile Murphy has explained the reasoning behind Labour’s plans:

“The two things that sum up five years of Tory rule are the explosion of food banks and the hated bedroom tax that has been imposed on Scotland.

“The existence of food banks in our communities makes me feel both fury and respect. Fury that this poverty infects our communities in the first place and respect that people care enough for their neighbour to donate and volunteer to help. In a country as rich as ours thousands of parents shouldn’t have to rely on charity to feed their children.

 “The bedroom tax is a shameful Tory experiment that has gone painfully wrong for so many. In a few weeks only Labour can defeat the Tory government that imposed this unfair tax on our poor, our vulnerable and our disabled whilst cutting taxes for millionaires and looking the other way on tax avoidance.

“In May we can elect a UK Labour Government that will end the bedroom tax, and with it unlock savings in the Scottish budget to offer support for those who are falling through the cracks. 

“By abolishing the Tories’ hated bedroom tax we can establish a £175 million Scottish Anti-Poverty Fund for those who, through no fault of their own, fall through the cracks. 

“When working people succeed, Scotland succeeds. After five years of the Tories even a job isn’t a guarantee of protection against poverty.

 “That is why we will drive up living standards by banning exploitative zero hours contracts, raising the minimum wage and extending the living wage.

“And we will take action on household costs by freezing energy prices and banning rip off rent rises.

“Labour’s mission is to battle poverty and inequality. I want to make food banks history in Scotland. It won’t happen overnight, but by making work pay, ending government targets on benefit sanctions and protecting the vulnerable we can begin to build the fairest nation on earth. That starts with UK Labour Government in May.”