Greater Manchester leaders back ‘Right to Food’ campaign

Greater Manchester has become the first UK city-region to back calls for the access to food to become a legal right.

The Right to Food campaign, launched by the Fans Supporting Foodbanks group founded by Liverpool and Everton supporters, seeks to make access to food a legal right in the UK, and will tackle food poverty across the UK. Food poverty has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, affecting 10 million people, with ethnic minorities, disabled people and the elderly suffering disproportionately. Recent analysis has indicated that an additional 4,500 children in Greater Manchester are now living in food poverty.

A letter, co-written by Greater Manchester Leaders, will be sent to the National Food Strategy Lead calling for the 10 million people currently living in food poverty to be at the heart of the strategy and urging for ‘Right to Food’ to become enshrined in legislation.

Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said:

The coronavirus pandemic has only magnified the stark and existing inequalities across the country. People struggling to self-isolate and feed their families at the same time as well as the growing queues of people accessing foodbanks over the last year are examples of this, and just shouldn’t be acceptable in 2021.

“The Greater Manchester Combined Authority is committed to recognising the Right to Food as an essential human right, and backs Fans Supporting Foodbanks call for it to be enshrined in national legislation. We welcome a review of the UK’s food system through the National Food Strategy – but the 10m people suffering from food poverty must be placed at its centre.”

Cllr Elise Wilson, GMCA Lead for Economy and Business and leader of Stockport Council, said:

Almost a year into the pandemic we are starting to see families really struggling, reflected in the number of additional children requiring free school meals and people accessing Universal Credit.

“Legislation to make food a legal right in the UK would ensure everyone would be able to access food and help to alleviate the hardships many people are currently facing in order to provide meals for their families. This is why we’re joining the call for the Right to Food to become a legal requirement and Greater Manchester leaders will be writing a letter to the National Food Strategy Lead outlining our position.”