Lee Anderson says a family he was trying to help with budgeting were going to McDonald's "two or three times a week" despite using a food bank. The Conservative MP for Ashfield secured a debate in Westminster Hall on the subject of food poverty, which took place on Wednesday (March 1).
The debate discussed a wide range of issues, including measures that could possibly be taken to tackle food waste and the support provided by Government to British farmers. Much of the debate focused on the use of food banks, a subject which Mr Anderson has previously spoken about after saying that most of those earning more than £30,000 shouldn't need to use one.
Speaking at the Westminster Hall debate, Lee Anderson said: "What upsets me, this gets to me a little bit, is that there is a culture in some deprived areas where people are so dependent on food banks that it is like a weekly shop for them. One particular family who I was really trying to help were going to the food bank two or three times a week to get their groceries, but then I would see them in McDonald's two or three times a week.
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"I do not want to stop little children going for a treat once in a while, but this is all about priorities. If you are really struggling for money and are going to a food bank two or three times a week, you should not be going out for fast food and getting takeaways every week. I know people are going to start sighing and ah-ing and saying, 'He's wicked and he's cruel', but those are the facts."
Speaking about his own background, Lee Anderson said: "I never went for a McDonald's when I was a kid, and I come from poverty. My mum and dad really struggled to feed us.
"He was a coalminer who worked seven days a week, and my mother was a factory worker. At the weekends, my dad did his garden.
"We had vegetables in there from top to bottom, and it also had chickens, rabbits and ducks. That was our food bank. Food banks are being abused. I know that, because constituents tell me every single day about people making it up, telling lies or whatever."
Mr Anderson received some criticism from opposition MPs who attended the debate, with the SNP's Patricia Gibson saying: "I am a great fan of the novels of Charles Dickens, and as I was sitting listening to the honourable gentleman, for all the world he reminded me of Mr Scrooge, without the compassion.
"Add into these difficulties the economic damage of Brexit and it is not good enough to tell people who are struggling that they need to buck up, that they need to work more shifts, try harder and buy containers to batch cook. It simply is not good enough. It is complacent and staggeringly insensitive."
Labour's Ian Byrne added: "We are talking about communities struggling. A report last week said that the minimum universal credit paid should be £120. We have got people receiving £85, so they are already down before we even factor in the rent.
"Does the honourable gentleman understand the magnitude of the crisis that people are facing now regarding rent, food and the cost of everything? Is that coming through in his constituency?"
Lee Anderson responded to Mr Byrne's comments by saying: "Yes, I do live in the real world. When I talk about these things in this place, I am talking on behalf of my friends, family, neighbours and constituents. I will take no lectures from anybody in this place about living in a deprived area."
Also attending the debate was Sherwood's Conservative MP and minister at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Mark Spencer. Mr Spencer used the debate to offer reassurance about steps being taken in light of the shortages of some fruit and vegetable items in supermarkets.
He said: "We are continuing to engage with industry throughout this period, and I hosted a roundtable with retailers this week to explore with them their contractual models, plans to return to normal supplies and contingencies for dealing with supply-chain challenges.
"I have also asked them to look again at how they work with our farmers and how they buy fruit and vegetables so that they can further prepare for these unexpected incidents. In the meantime, I reassure honourable members that the UK has a highly resilient food supply chain, which was demonstrated during the covid-19 response. It is well equipped to deal with situations with a potential to cause disruption."
Mr Anderson also said in the debate that a shortage of fruit and vegetable pickers in the UK could potentially be helped by using prisoners. The MP also said the idea that everyone on Universal Credit is in poverty is a "myth."
He said: "We have people—not just in my constituency, but all over the country—who are on universal credit, but have a household income of more than £40,000 a year. Now that is not poverty."
Speaking at the end of the debate, Mr Anderson responded to criticism from some opposition MPs by saying: "I did not say that "everybody" was abusing the food bank system or that "everybody" who uses a food bank cannot cook or budget. I said, "some people".
"We should be very careful with tone and delivery because of tomorrow's headlines in the papers. It leads to hatred, nastiness and threats. All I am going to say is that the opposition need to be very careful with the way they speak in this place, because it does lead to some horrible and divisive behaviour."
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