Oral Answers to Questions

Ian Byrne Excerpts

Thursday 19th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Emma Hardy]

The right hon. Gentleman raises an important point. Quite often, we find that flooding farmland is used to protect villages and rural communities. I have been thinking about the best way to take this issue forward, after meeting a farmer when I went to Somerset, and seeing the extensive flooding right across his land. We have put £91 million into internal drainage boards, which is the most money that has ever gone into trying to support farmers in draining agricultural land. I am actively considering this issue, and am having conversations about it at the moment.

[Ian Byrne (Liverpool West Derby) (Lab)]

8. What assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of introducing a statutory right to food.

[The Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs (Dame Angela Eagle)]

The Government are taking strong action to improve access to good, nutritious food. We have extended eligibility for free school meals to half a million more children, and free, universal breakfast clubs are being introduced across the country. We are also reforming crisis support through the introduction of the crisis and resilience fund.

[Ian Byrne]

The Right to Food UK Commission, launched last November, is gathering vital evidence from policy experts and those with lived experience of food poverty from across the UK—next week we will be Aberdare and Cardiff. I would like to put on the record my thanks to my hon. Friend the Minister for the positive meeting we had last week on the commission. Will the Secretary of State commit to meeting me later this year, upon publication of the commission’s legislative road map, so that we can work together to ensure that the right to food is finally committed to law and tackle the scourge of hunger in our communities?