MPs should be fined £1,000 a year for every foodbank in their constituencies, campaigners in Wales have demanded.

Food campaigners staged a march and rally in Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taff, on Saturday.

Mandy Haydon-Hall, foodbank manager in Pontypridd, said volunteers in Rhondda Cynon Taff handed out food to over 23,000 people last year. 

“That’s one in 11 people using foodbanks,” she said.

In a message to MPs and members of the Senedd, activist and Wales football legend Neville Southall said: “I’d take a grand off your wages every year for every foodbank in your area.”

He pointed out that expected redundancies at Port Talbot steelworks would lead to “massive foodbank demand.”

The march and rally was organised by Rhondda Cynon Taff Trades Union Council in conjunction with Beth Winter, Labour MP for Cynon Valley.

Trades council secretary Jason Richards called for the right of all to have access to healthy nutritious food.