A NEW petition is calling for York to sign up to the 'Right to Food' pledge as figures show more than 4,000 children in the city are living in poverty.

The national movement is fighting for the 'Right to Food' to be incorporated into the Government’s National Food Strategy - the first independent review of England’s entire food system in 75 years.

Campaigners warn that despite York's image as an "affluent" area, many families are struggling to put meals on the table with the pandemic acting as a catalyst to pre-existing issues like food poverty and economic disadvantage.

Liverpool and Manchester have already made the pledge and other cities such as Birmingham are set to follow.

Rachael Maskell MP (Labour Co-operative, York Central) has given her backing to York Labour Party's petition which would outline the Government's obligations on food poverty and introduce legal avenues to hold bodies accountable for potential violations.

The UK’s food poverty rate is among the highest in Europe with the Trussell Trust Food Bank reporting almost a 170 per cent increase in the number of vouchers issued to families at the start of lockdown on the previous year.

Meanwhile the latest figures from The End Child Poverty coalition show that in 2108/19 in York Central, after housing costs, 24.9 per cent of children were in living in poverty.

Ms Maskell said: “We live in one of the wealthiest countries in the world and the right to food is something we should all be able to take for granted. However, we know that sadly this is not the case and that we have families, including children and elderly people going hungry in our city every day.

"The pandemic has shone a spotlight on this issue and exposed the true scale of the levels of poverty in this country and the huge gulf that exists between those that have and those that do not.

"Throughout this last year my office has dealt with some truly heart-breaking cases, including where mothers have reported going hungry to feed their children, and families and elderly people have had to choose between heating and eating.

"Many families have been forced to use the foodbank and others have struggled to make something out of woefully inadequate pupil lunch parcels provided as a replacement for free school meals.

"If it were not for the generosity of people giving food and money to local food banks hundreds of people in York would have ended up in food destitution.

"Clearly these are not circumstances that anyone should have to live through, but the reality is, the food poverty crisis is affecting our communities, right now.

"This issue cannot and should not be brushed under the carpet any longer. Both the Government and Councils up and down the country need to reflect on the scale of this issue and take the chance whilst this review is taking place to ensure that the ‘Right to Food’ is made into law.  

"York is a Human Rights City and the Council must now live up to their obligations by confirming that they will support this campaign.”

Cllr Bob Webb, Labour’s Spokesperson for Children and Young People who created the petition, said the city needs to "do more" to help those in need.

Cllr Webb said: “Many people see York as an affluent City that does not suffer from issues such as food poverty and economic disadvantage. However the pandemic has laid bare the inequalities that some people in York are forced to suffer and have been suffering with for a lot longer than the year since the first lockdown began.

"As a City we can do more to help those families and young people who are hungry and in need of support. One of the first things that we can do is become a ‘right to food’ City.”

People can sign the petition by visiting https://bit.ly/3sEwyRH