Greater Manchester becomes first city-region to support campaign to make food a legal right

Greater Manchester is the first city-region to support the campaign which calls for the ‘Right to Food’ to become a legal requirement. 

The campaign, launched by Fans Supporting Foodbanks, calls for a change in the law to make access to food a legal right for all in the UK. 

Estimates show that more than 10m people in the UK are living in food poverty, disproportionately affecting ethnic minorities, disabled and older people. 

Since the pandemic began, recent analysis suggests that an additional 4,500 children across Greater Manchester have now crossed the poverty threshold and are eligible for free school meals. 

Data from the Department of Work and Pensions also demonstrates the number of households who receive Universal Credit has increased by 69% from 149,638 in February 2020 to 252,609 now.

These startling figures are early warnings of the social impact of Covid-19.

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

The legislation is not a solution to poverty on its own, but the change in law would make it necessary for a range of public bodies to take action and ensure everyone is able to access essential food, improving the quality of people’s lives across the city-region.

The Right to Food campaign has built on what Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford has highlighted in recent months. 

The campaign is being led by Fans Supporting Foodbanks with a petition launched that now has over 43,000 signatures. 

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.”

Councillor Elise Wilson, GMCA Lead for Economy and Business, 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.”

Alex Timperley, of MCFC Fans Foodbank Support, said: “Enshrining a Right to Food into law will be transformative. There is a food poverty epidemic on the streets of towns and cities across the country, no more so than in Greater Manchester. We’re proud to live in a place which has said no to child poverty, no to skipping meals, no to the vulnerable elderly having to choose between heating and eating.

“This is a grassroots campaign from football fans across the UK who want to build our communities from the ground up. A Right to Food is only one part of what must be a wider movement to end poverty, but it is a big step which will go a long way to ensuring people can live their lives with dignity. We hope that other cities, councils and regions will follow the lead of Greater Manchester.”