There are few things more frustrating in politics than attempts to shut down a valid debate about a real social problem using the speaker’s personal circumstances. Today’s victim appears to be Richard Benyon, scalded for suggesting in a low-key Westminster Hall debate that Britain has a food problem.
The environment minister told the debate on Wednesday that the government would set targets for helping families cut the amount of food they waste, saying:
‘We all know that we ought to be wasting much less food, that food wasted means fewer pounds in our pocket, that the energy and water used to produce the food has been wasted, and that the transportation and packaging costs have been wasted. Not only that, but what happens to wasted food can have significant financial and environmental costs. Most people want to do something on a personal level about the situation and we are taking steps to help them to do so. The Government, by funding WRAP, is working with consumers to help them to save money and to reduce household food waste. Its Love Food Hate Waste campaign, which has been referred to, offers information and ideas on reducing food waste.’
Benyon’s in trouble because he’s Britain’s richest MP, and so isn’t allowed to have ideas about a policy area he’s responsible for. But really, the real victim of this is the Labour party, who seem to think it’s a good idea to ignore the statistics. Michael Dugher is Labour vice-chairman, so he’s paid to turn everything into a partisan row, but his decision to brand this as ‘let them eat leftovers’ and ‘another crass, patronising and out-of-touch lecture from a minister’ suggests Labour isn’t aware of the research published a few months ago by the Institute of Mechanical Engineers which showed that between 30 and 50 per cent of the food in developed countries is wasted. Funnily enough, the party’s Shadow Environment Secretary Mary Creagh has also been talking about reducing the amount of food wasted in this country, but clearly when a well-off Tory makes the same noises, he’s out of touch, rather than sensible. When Britain is seeing a mushrooming in the number of people who have cupboards so bare they need help from a food bank, this mountain of waste suggests a deep dysfunction. Another sensible Tory, Laura Sandys, has written for Coffee House before on the importance of policymakers focusing on hunger in this country, and she suggested that families needed help in learning to cook, make food go further, and choosing nutritional food.
Of course helping families manage their fridge properly won’t solve the crisis in living standards, and of course it won’t stop demand for food banks: those holding on by their fingertips are already trying every trick in the book to make their food go further. But educating people to become more resilient in a time of pressure is exactly what government should be doing: liberating them to make decisions about how to run their lives and their fridges as they please. It would be a shame if these political hunger games meant ministers grew shy of facing up to this country’s food crisis.
Comments