Fresh and Nutritious Food: Inequality of Access Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Yasmin Qureshi
Main Page: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South and Walkden)Department Debates - View all Yasmin Qureshi's debates with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Fresh and Nutritious Food: Inequality of Access
Yasmin Qureshi Excerpts(1 day, 10 hours ago)
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Gordon McKee
I agree with my hon. Friend’s point. The Government have done a good bit of work in looking at ways to support community food markets that provide affordable fresh food to communities. I ask the Minister, when she responds, to commit to visiting Castlemilk with me to meet those on the frontline of the fight against food poverty.
Yasmin Qureshi (Bolton South and Walkden) (Lab)
My hon. Friend is rightly talking about access to proper food. In my constituency, FareShare helps to redistribute more than 325,000 meals a year to 11 local charities. That is a lifeline for families struggling to afford fresh food. Nationally, however, hundreds of thousands of tonnes of edible food still go to waste. Will my hon. Friend ask the Minister to commit to supporting food redistribution as part of a fairer food system?
Gordon McKee
I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention.
Institutions and Governments have failed Castlemilk for far too long. The Labour Government can help change that, and I am determined to play my part. I will always stand by the people of Castlemilk in their fight for a supermarket, and with all those across the UK fighting for access to good food. I have met supermarket operators and landowners to find a solution. Unlike the many politicians who have come before me, I will not promise something that it is not directly in my gift to deliver, but I can promise that I will not stop fighting until the community I represent has the supermarket it deserves. The people of Castlemilk and 1.2 million others across the UK deserve better. They deserve the same access to fresh, nutritious and affordable food that the rest of us enjoy and take for granted. I am determined to make that a reality, and I will not stop fighting until it is.