by our industrial reporter @TrinderMatt

THE labour movement must work together in the fight for a statutory right to food, bakers’ union head Sarah Woolley has stressed.

The BFAWU general secretary told the union’s “All we want for Christmas is the right to food” webinar on Tuesday evening that change is needed to help the 12 million people across Britain who are suffering from food poverty — despite the country being the sixth richest in the world. 

The event also heard from Ian Byrne, Labour MP for Liverpool West Derby, and Ronda Grant, the party’s MSP for the Highlands and Islands, both backing the growing campaign in their respective parliaments.

Supportive motions were unanimously passed by the TUC and its Scottish counterpart earlier this year, while pressure from grassroots campaign groups has also led to local authorities across Britain –—including in Liverpool, Manchester, Durham and Brighton — adopting right-to-food motions.

Some councils in Tory-controlled areas have also backed the initiative, highlighting its increasingly cross-party appeal as the cost of living soars, taxes increase and universal credit cuts become a reality.

Ms Woolley said: “We need to make decent nutritious food truly accessible. We need to make it affordable, healthy, safe to eat and fairly produced by well-paid unionised staff through the food industry.

“The pandemic has shone a light on the real key workers in this country — not the bosses, the shareholders or the millionaires, but people on the front line, those struggling to make ends meet. 

“We have to act together as a labour movement as no-one should be going hungry.”

Mr Byrne, who referred to shocking reports of malnutrition leading to cases of scurvy and rickets in some areas, praised the work of those putting pressure on local and national leaders to “do what is right for our communities.”

He said: “Much like austerity, food insecurity is a political choice. It’s not predetermined. It can be fixed with a concerted effort by the government to take clear responsibility.”

Ms Grant’s right to food Bill, inherited from former MSP Elaine Smith who chaired Tuesday’s meeting, was delayed by SNP and Scottish Green ministers earlier this year.

She decried as “absolutely unacceptable” the fact that many families have to rely on foodbanks to survive.