General Election 2024: Question Time St Wilfrid's - Crawley candidates debate | foodbanks - video Dailymotion

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Watch as Crawley's parliamentary candidates faced a question about immigration from St Wilfrid's student Hamza Najam ahead of the General Election 2024.

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00:00After lockdown, when we all started to return to school, I noticed that food bank had signed up.

00:06Four years on, lockdown is long gone, but the food bank is still there.

00:10At what point are food banks going to be an exception rather than the norm?

00:16So, like most of you and people listening at home, during lockdown, we as a nation went through a very difficult time.

00:25We lost lots of our loved ones, and however, at the same time, we worked as a community together, we looked after each other.

00:34We helped wherever we needed to help, our residents, the older people where they did not have anybody to help them.

00:41Food banks are set up as one set up, and you know, I have volunteered on one or two food banks during that time,

00:50and I think we need, our economy is growing, the wages are growing faster than inflation now.

00:57Inflation is down to 2%, which is Bank of England's target, and I think our economy is turning a corner.

01:04We are not far off when these food banks, the number of them will start coming down,

01:10and our social security system, we need to help people wherever we need to help them,

01:18and also we need to make it fair and encourage people to work wherever somebody can work.

01:25So, again, I'm very grateful for people working in those food banks, I'm grateful for people donating to those food banks,

01:34and also, at the same time, I think once the economy is stabilised, we will see the number of food banks going down.

01:42Thank you for that.

01:44Do you agree, Peter?

01:46Well, I remember that feedback being set up, because I spoke to a headteacher at the time,

01:50and he asked my advice about how to keep money off the ground.

01:52At the same time, we were having a conversation about free school meal vouchers,

01:55because at the time the government wasn't sponsoring through the holiday, and a lot of people were struggling,

02:00trying to get the scheme up and running on the local level, to keep people fed through the holidays,

02:04so people's parents didn't struggle.

02:06As a local party, we've been collecting food banks across the town, and I can tell you,

02:09demand has never been greater than this before.

02:11But I remember when we didn't have food banks in Crawley, we didn't need them.

02:15People had enough money on the table.

02:17You shouldn't have to rely on charity to be able to feed yourself and your family.

02:22That's the sentence the country has got to, where we are so reliant on these things,

02:26because the system is so thoroughly broken.

02:28People can't get enough to keep themselves even fed.

02:32We have to get people's incomes up, and that means making sure pensions are enough,

02:36it means ensuring that people are low incomes.

02:38It's not even low incomes anymore.

02:39You talk to a lot of people at food banks, and I have done,

02:42a lot of the time they've got professional jobs.

02:43We're talking about nurses here, we're talking about police officers,

02:45where it just isn't enough to make ends meet.

02:48We have to ensure that we've got a system that ensures that everyone has enough to come in,

02:51and some of that is going to be about making sure the economy grows again.

02:55Some of that is going to be making sure that we've got more white rice at work,

02:57so they can fight for that better pay deal.

02:59They've been out on picket lines fighting as part of strikes,

03:02and they've been there to support all of these different strikes across town throughout this period,

03:05to make sure that people could get that better deal.

03:07And it means that in terms of a benefit system,

03:09and people don't like discussing this,

03:11they like always saying someone's getting a better deal than them,

03:14but all the evidence is that poverty has been driven by the cuts that have been made to our benefit system

03:19over the last 14 years, and that has to be tackled.

03:22If people are ever going to get back to a situation where we do not have the utter disgrace

03:26of over a third of the kids in this town growing up in poverty,

03:29in one of the wealthiest communities in the world,

03:31that's a legacy to be proud of, sir.

03:36Lee?

03:41I remember Dominic Roth a few years ago,

03:44formerly the Crown Secretary,

03:48and more recently Deputy Prime Minister,

03:51he described food banks,

03:54and the people who use them,

03:56he said, I won't quote it that way,

03:58because I can't remember the exact word,

04:00but he basically said that food banks are predominantly used by people that have a cash flow problem.

04:05Now, if you've got a government that is viewing the use of food banks,

04:08and the need for food banks like that,

04:10you're never going to get anywhere.

04:12The cash flow problem, to me,

04:14is people that have money,

04:16that, for different reasons,

04:18maybe a problem with the market,

04:21they can't quite use that money at that time.

04:24Food banks are being used by people that work

04:26many, many hours a week,

04:28maybe more than one job,

04:30and they literally cannot afford

04:32to buy their food.

04:34They're eating all their food.

04:36So, if, given the words from Dominic Roth,

04:39as an illustration

04:41of how

04:43the Conservative government has viewed

04:45people that are struggling,

04:47that work and are struggling,

04:49we can see why we haven't got anyone.

04:51Now, when I was a councillor in a place called Burgess Hill,

04:53that was around the time of COVID.

04:55COVID was a clusterfuck.

04:57And,

04:59one thing it highlighted was,

05:01it didn't create the food insecurity,

05:03it highlighted, in the South East,

05:05in places like Sussex,

05:07we're viewed as very affable,

05:09you don't have a poverty in places like this.

05:11And what COVID did,

05:13was to highlight, actually,

05:15that food insecurity and food poverty

05:17has been there for a long time.

05:19So, me and a few other councillors at the time,

05:21we got our heads together and we made a

05:23performing charity that we became

05:25trustees of, where you could,

05:27it's effectively a food shop

05:29that's, the price is

05:31much cheaper, we get

05:33the offshoots from

05:35major supermarkets and charge a

05:37fair deal. And that's

05:39also covered people that don't

05:41fit into the traditional benefits

05:43system. There's a lot of people that are left out

05:45of claiming benefits

05:47because they don't fit the criteria.

05:49So,

05:51that's something that I've done in person

05:53on this subject.

05:55But, cruelly, it's the same.

05:57People just

05:59are not able to,

06:01if the money isn't

06:03if the money isn't as long as the

06:05as the

06:07I forgot the other word, I thought it began with N as well

06:09but if your money isn't going to last

06:11until, it isn't going to last

06:13until the next pay packet, then you've got no

06:15you've got no choice.

06:17So, what are the Liberal Democrats

06:19looking at trying to do on this? First of all,

06:21we want to implement a national

06:23food strategy. Sounds ridiculous

06:25in this day and age, we have to implement something

06:27like that, something so basic.

06:29So, really,

06:31we need farmers to be able to trade

06:33like they used to in the European Union.

06:35And I'm sorry for

06:37others that may not be massive

06:39fans of the European Union, it's still massively

06:41important. You can't cut off trade

06:43or make trade

06:45harder with the biggest trade

06:47you've had for decades.

06:49Literally across the Channel

06:51and through the land borders

06:53and expect prices

06:55not to increase.

06:57And

06:59we want to give

07:01farmers the ability to

07:03negotiate standards

07:05of trade with Europe so that

07:07we can actually have those tariff-free

07:11goods

07:13so that we can actually get

07:15them to produce better.

07:17It seems as though

07:19both the South and the UK seem to be blaming

07:21the Saxon Party for the

07:23proposal to be banned.

07:25Do you want to respond to that?

07:27I'll say one thing that

07:29it's been mentioned as a benefit system.

07:31We need to have a benefit system

07:33but at the same time we need to have a

07:35benefit system which support us

07:37when we need it.

07:39But at the same time we need to have a benefit

07:41system which encourage people

07:43to go out and get a job and help

07:45them to go and get a job. And that's

07:47what we are trying to do.

07:49And if we just look on figures, this year

07:516.7%

07:53support

07:55for vulnerable people.

07:57Their benefits have gone up 6.7%.

07:59National

08:01living wage has increased to

08:03£11.44 now at the moment

08:05which is £1,800

08:07more for the lowest

08:09paid income people.

08:11Same time, £11 billion

08:13worth of cost of living

08:15payments have been made.

08:17£3 billion in household

08:19support funds have been paid

08:21to people. We are a country

08:23where we

08:25run our system on taxes.

08:27So if we are helping one of

08:29us, somebody needs to pay

08:31for that. So if I'm getting help

08:33one of you need to pay and some of you

08:35need to fund that. So it's very important

08:37that we strike that

08:39balance and we have a system

08:41where we can balance those books and

08:43when people need help

08:45we help them. At the same time

08:47we help them to get on jobs and

08:49try to do whatever they want to decide

08:51for them rather than we put them

08:53in a system where they are stuck

08:55in that circle and they don't get that option

08:57to go out and work and

08:59there is not that help over there.

09:01One thing, last point

09:03I'll say last point.

09:05We want to hear it again and again

09:07that last 14 years we have been

09:09in power. There is no question about that.

09:11We have been in power for the last 14 years

09:13but people have been

09:15voting for us as a party

09:17in every election in those

09:1914 years. We haven't

09:21been perfect but now

09:23not only we are looking on the past 14 years

09:25we need to look what

09:27we and everybody else is offering

09:29you for the next 5 years

09:31as well. So why don't you decide

09:33tomorrow morning, make sure 14

09:35plus next 5 as well.

General Election 2024: Question Time St Wilfrid's - Crawley candidates debate | foodbanks

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