Cost of living: Record one million emergency food bank parcels expected to be handed out this winter

Published

2 years ago

October 18, 2023

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More than one million emergency parcels are expected to be distributed by food banks this winter due to an “unprecedented need” for help, a charity has warned.

The Trussell Trust network, which supports more than 1,300 food bank centres across the UK, has forecast that more than 600,000 people will rely on food banks from December this year until next February.

That will mean almost 100,000 more emergency food parcels are required compared to the same period last year, when a total of 904,000 were handed out.

Last winter saw 220,000 children supported by emergency meals from the Trussell Trust network, with 225,000 people using a food bank for the first time.

And the charity believes the numbers will continue to rise in the run up to Christmas and into early next year, as many people hit crisis point.

One in seven people in the UK are forced to go hungry because they don’t have enough money to feed themselves, Trussell Trust chief executive, Emma Revie, said.

“We don’t want to spend every winter saying things are getting worse, but they are,” she warned.

Food is desperately needed to make up the emergency parcels, together with money to pay for a shortfall in donations, Ms Revie said.

“Every year we are seeing more and more people needing food banks, and that is just not right,” she added, vowing: “We won’t stand by and let this continue.”

“Together, we have roots into hundreds of communities and while someone facing hunger can’t change the structural issues driving the need for food banks on their own, thousands of us coming together can,” Ms Revie said.

“We must end hunger across the UK so that no one needs a food bank to survive.”

A survey of 282 Trussell Trust food banks over the last three months showed 93% had to buy extra food to meet demand.

Almost a third (32%) admitted they were worried about maintaining their current service levels as winter approaches.

‘We face winter with trepidation’

Natasha Copus, project manager at the Trussell Trust food bank in Southend, Essex, said their centres were experiencing “unprecedented need”.

“We have had to buy around half the food we give out already this year and that is not even with the added pressure of heating and energy that people will face this winter.

“It is with trepidation that we face the next six months of being there for people,” she added, as she called on the local community to offer their support.

Meanwhile Daniel Kebede, the general secretary of the National Education Union, reiterated calls for free school meals to be extended to all pupils to fight poverty and child hunger, which have “tremendous social and moral costs”.

Food banks preparing to support bigger numbers of people is a “damning sign” of the government’s failure to support people during the cost-of-living crisis, he said.

‘Poverty does not discriminate’

Trussell Trust food banks provided a lifeline for education worker Aneita after a problem with her tax credits saw her “suddenly plunged into a financial nightmare”.

“I remember sitting in the waiting room, with my daughter, waiting to be given a food parcel,” she said.

“I was holding back my tears, not wanting my daughter to see me upset, and thinking, ‘how has it got to this?’.”

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Now Aneita is calling for an end to food banks.

“We need change – a real living wage, benefits that reflect the cost of living, more social housing.

“Poverty does not discriminate – it can and will single you out through no fault of your own.”

UK

Starmer urges anyone with information on Epstein case to come forward – after Andrew misses Congress deadline

Published

2 hours ago

November 23, 2025

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Deadline day for Andrew to respond to Epstein inquiry - but it's hard to imagine why he'd talk

Sir Keir Starmer has urged anyone with information on the Jeffrey Epstein case to come forward after Andrew Mountbatten Windsor missed the deadline to appear in front of US Congress.

US legislators have criticised Andrew for what they describe as “silence” amid their probe into Epstein after he failed to respond to their request for an interview.

When asked about Andrew missing the deadline and whether the former prince should help the case in any way he can, Sir Keir said on his way to the G20 summit in South Africa: “I don’t comment on this particular case.”

He added that “a general principle I’ve held for a very long time is that anybody who has got relevant information in relation to these kind of cases should give that evidence to those that need it”.

Andrew is not legally obliged to talk to Congress and has always vigorously denied any wrongdoing.

It comes as Marjorie Taylor Greene, a loyal supporter-turned-critic of US President Donald Trump, said on Friday she is resigning from Congress in January.

Ms Greene’s resignation followed a public falling-out with Mr Trump in recent months, as the congresswoman criticised him for his stance on files related to Epstein, as well as on foreign policy and healthcare.

Members of the House Oversight Committee had requested a “transcribed interview” with Andrew in connection with his “long-standing friendship” with Epstein, the paedophile financier who took his own life in a New York prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking and conspiracy charges.

But after saying they had not heard back, Democrats Robert Garcia and Suhas Subramanyam accused Andrew of hiding.

Their statement read: “Andrew Mountbatten Windsor’s silence in the face of the Oversight Democrat’s demand for testimony speaks volumes.

“The documents we’ve reviewed, along with public records and Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s testimony, raise serious questions he must answer, yet he continues to hide.

“Our work will move forward with or without him, and we will hold anyone who was involved in these crimes accountable, no matter their wealth, status, or political party. We will get justice for the survivors.”

It follows Andrew being stripped of his prince and Duke of York titles earlier this month.

He had previously agreed to stop using his titles, but had expected to remain a prince and retain his dukedom, ahead of the publication of the memoirs of the late Ms Giuffre, who had accused him of sexually assaulting her when she was a teenager – an accusation he denies.

UK

Girl, 13, arrested on suspicion of murdering woman in Swindon

Published

2 hours ago

November 23, 2025

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Girl, 13, arrested on suspicion of murdering woman in Swindon

A 13-year-old girl has been arrested on suspicion of murdering a woman in Swindon.

Police said the teenager was detained following an incident in Baydon Close, Moredon, in the Wiltshire town on Friday evening.

Officers responded to reports of disorder inside a house. When they arrived, a woman in her 50s living at the address was found to be not breathing. She was declared dead at the scene.

There were no other reported injuries.

Detective Inspector Darren Ambrose, from Wiltshire Police’s major crime investigation team, said: “This is a serious incident in which a woman has sadly died.

“We have set up a cordon at the address while an investigation is carried out.

“I can confirm that we have arrested a teenage girl in connection with this incident and we are not looking for anyone else.”

Police have asked people not to speculate about the incident online as this could prejudice the case.

A police statement read: “Residents can expect to see an increased police presence in the area while we continue carrying out our enquiries into the woman’s death.

“The suspect remains in custody at this time.”

Police said anyone with concerns should speak with their local neighbourhood policing team, either by emailing or approaching officers in person.

UK

Rail fares to be frozen for first time in 30 years

Published

2 hours ago

November 23, 2025

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Rail fares to be frozen for first time in 30 years

Rail fares are to be frozen for the first time in 30 years, the government has announced.

Ministers promised that millions of rail travellers will save hundreds of pounds on regulated fares, including season tickets and peak and off-peak returns between major cities.

The fare freeze applies to England and services run by English train operators.

People commuting to work three days a week using flexi-season tickets will save £315 a year travelling from Milton Keynes to London, £173 travelling from Woking to London and £57 from Bradford to Leeds, the government said.

The changes are part of Labour’s plans to rebuild a publicly owned Great British Railways. Other planned changes include tap in-tap out and digital ticketing, as well as investing in superfast Wi-Fi.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the government was introducing a freeze on rail fares for the first time in 30 years, which “will ease the pressure on household finances and make travelling to work, school or to visit friends and family that bit easier”.

“We all want to see cheaper rail travel, so we’re freezing fares to help millions of passengers save money,” Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said.

“Commuters on more expensive routes will save more than £300 per year, meaning they keep more of their hard-earned cash.”

Rail unions and passenger groups welcomed the move, praising how it will make travel more affordable for passengers and promote more sustainable travel alternatives.

Eddie Dempsey, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, said: “More affordable fares will encourage greater use of public transport, supporting jobs, giving a shot in the arm to local economies and helping to improve the environment.”

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said the rail fare freeze “will be a huge relief to working people”.

“This is the right decision, at the right time, to help passengers be able to afford to make that journey they need to take, and to help grow our railway in this country, because the railway is Britain’s green alternative – taking cars and lorries off our congested roads and moving people and goods safely around our country in an environmentally-friendly way,” Mick Whelan, general secretary of the train drivers union Aslef, said.

The Tories welcomed the move but said the government was “late to the platform”.

Shadow transport secretary Richard Holden said: “In government, the Conservatives kept fares on the right track with below-inflation rises and consistently called for no further hikes to protect hard-working commuters.”