A government minister has come under fire after he said using a food bank was a ‘personal decision’ made by people. Armed forces minister Johnny Mercer, who is Tory MP for Plymouth made the comments while being interviewed by Kay Burley on Sky News about former military personnel using food banks - and sparked outrage.
He was challenged for this view by Ms Burley who said people don’t ‘choose’ to use foodbanks, rather it’s out of desperation. He replied that in ‘my experience, that’s not correct’. Sky News presenter Kay Burley asked: “Is there any need for military personnel to be using food banks? Deborah Haynes, our defence editor, carried that story last month.”
Mr Mercer said: “Look, these are these are personal decisions around, how people, are budgeting every month. I don’t want to see anyone using food banks. Of course I don’t.
“But we’re you know, we’re in an extremely difficult time around the cost of living. I’ll always advocate for service personnel to get paid more. I’d be mad not to, but it has to be, you know, within the constraints of a budget.
“And to be fair, you know, this prime minister only two years ago gave defence the the biggest settlement that we’ve seen since the end of the Cold War. Actually. So, look, I think none of these things are black and white.”
Kay intervened: “People don’t choose to use food banks. You’re saying it’s a it’s a choice. Whether they use them or not, it’s not. They’re using them because they’re saying they have no other alternative.”
Mr Mercer replied: “Well, in my experience, Kay, that’s not correct. I think there are some dire cases that we need to do more to wrap our arms around and make sure that, they’re a safety net for people. I don’t think food bank use is an accurate portrayal of where levels of poverty, relative or absolute poverty are in this country. I don’t want to see anybody using food banks, but, you know, I think that,, being in the military still afford you a good wage and a good quality of life and, um, you know, and that will continue to be the case.”
Viewers disagreed and said that the choice was a hard one. On Twitter Dobbo76 said: “Choose” as in ‘eat or starve’ choose?” Charley explained: “Does Mercer have any idea how foodbanks work? you can’t just choose to turn up and help yourself. You have to prove a need then get a voucher. My understanding of the system is that people are limited to 2 vouchers.”
Sailor Rini said: “Clearly Johnny is out of touch of reality seen as people have to get referred to food banks and only get referred when they have proven they don’t have enough funds.” JDaBuddah added: “Johnny Mercer is absolutely right. People using food banks IS them making a choice. The choice between a food bank and starvation.”
Mr Mercer also spoke about efforts to end veteran homelessness with Operation Fortitude. He said: “We’ve got a promise to end veterans sleeping rough in this country by the end of this year. There are those who come out and find life outside the forces very difficult.
“We want to make this the best country in the world to be a veteran so Op Fortitude is what we’re launching today ./ We’ve bought 910 supported housing placements, £8.5 million. Any veteran who is homeless in this country can dial up the hotline anf get referred into one of these places and get wrap around help.”
