Yahoo News Tory MP Lee Anderson Says People Use Food Banks Because They 'Can't Cook Or Budget'
Lee Anderson (Photo: Parliament)
A Conservative MP has said a lot of people only use food banks because they “can’t cook a meal from scratch” and “cannot budget”.
Speaking in the Commons on Tuesday, Lee Anderson, the MP for Ashfield, invited other MPs to come to a food bank in his constituency.
“When people come now for a food parcel they have to register for a budgeting course and a cooking course,” he said.
“What we do at a food bank is we show them how to cook cheap and nutritious meals on a budget. We can make a meal for about 30p a day.
He added: “There’s not this massive use for food banks in this country.”
“You’ve got generation after generation who cannot cook properly. They can’t cook a meal from scratch. They cannot budget.”
But he was immediately criticised for the comments. The SNP’s Joanna Cherry said MPs were “perfectly well aware of the requirement” for food banks across the country.
“The requirement for them is not because people don’t know how to cook,” she said.
“It’s because we have poverty in this country at a scale which should shame his government.”
Figures released last month showed the Trussell Trust charity provided more than 2.1 million food parcels to people facing financial hardship across the country, from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022
Earlier, a Tory council leader faced intense online backlash after he was pictured smiling and laughing while ceremoniously opening a food bank.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost UK and has been updated.
