We petition Lancaster City Council to declare support for the right to food to be incorporated into UK law. City councils in Liverpool, Manchester and Salford have already committed to becoming Right to Food cities. They call upon all UK towns and cities to come together to demand the Government guarantees the right to food, ending the scandal of food poverty and food insecurity, which affects more than 10 million people in the UK. At the Lancaster City Council meeting of 17 March 2021 a motion will be presented in support of the Right to Food Campaign. We request that councillors give this motion their full backing.

It is unacceptable that in 2021, in one of the most prosperous nations in the world, people are going hungry. In 2019, the Government supported the UN resolution on the Right to Food, but declined to incorporate this into UK law so there is no legal mechanism to enforce the right to food. The Government is now measuring household food insecurity, but measurement without action does not prevent hunger. 

In our district, the food banks have maintained a delivery of over 500 household food parcels each week over months of the pandemic. Many more households were supported through community food clubs and outlets. The Lancaster District Food Poverty Alliance last month launched a local strategy to support action on food insecurity. (Please click here to see it). We have a strong community-led safety net in our district of which we can be proud, but this does not represent a right to food. Legislation enshrining this right would set out tasks and responsibilities for the wide range of public bodies that would need to take action to ensure that everyone has enough good food. This could include requiring measures to improve people's incomes (such as requiring a Real Living Wage and implementing a Universal Basic Income), control everyday costs (such as taking action on utility bills), and improve access to good food (such as free school meals).