My kids' school! Very grateful for all the excellent work Hillyfield Primary Academy has done making it safer & easier for us to walk and ride to school:

Deeply disturbing comments from Chancellor re cuts to social security. Universal Credit already too low to cover essentials, leaving people facing hunger & debt, damaging health & prospects. Tune into LBC to hear me chat with @_NatashaDevon about how catastrophic this would be.

Benefits sanctions don't help people into work - they force people into hunger and drive them to food banks. ox.ac.uk/news/2016-10-2…

.Rishi Sunak, did you see our billboard on your way to the Conservative Party Conference? You said everyone should be able to afford essentials. We agree. Yet millions of people are turning to food banks because Universal Credit is falling short. It’s time to act. #CPC23

Arriving at Labour Conference with @trusselltrust - our digital board with Joseph Rowntree Foundation posing the key question for us this conference: 🔎 What plan will the party have to tackle the still rising levels of need for food banks in communities across the UK?

Food banks mentioned in Keir Starmer’s speech today, as well as in Liz Kendall’s & elsewhere at Labour conference. In 1997, rough sleeping was the symbol of what an incoming government needed to fix. Feels like food banks are becoming the symbol of what now needs to change.

Sleeping on the streets is NOT a lifestyle choice. We don’t have nearly enough affordable homes, rents are soaring and this is leaving people destitute and forced to sleep rough. This is a consequence of poverty. And poverty in this country has been exacerbated by policy choices

Yesterday we published @TrussellTrust mid year stats. Grim reading. Here’s the lowlights: 🧵 - 1.5 million parcels provided between April & September. - Record high, 16% rise on last year (which was also a record high & big rise from previous year. - 116% rise since 2018 1/5

It's no coincidence @TrussellTrust food banks are running out of food & volunteers are exhausted:

Now the Government is claiming it is the 'duty' of Disabled people to work from home... maybe the government should 'do it's duty' of properly supporting Disabled people who are unable to work! We should not have to earn our humanity!

The Ugly: Little to stop expected fall in living standards for those on lowest incomes. - Big permanent NI cut for those on middle & high incomes. - Small, short-term sticking plasters for those really suffering. Little to reduce v high numbers forced to turn to food banks. 3/3

Our calls for the next government:

Universal Credit is inadequate to cover people's essential costs to begin with, but half of those on UC also have money deducted to recover debts - £63 a month on average New NEF analysis in The Guardian on the impossible position people are being left in theguardian.com/society/articl…

Context ahead of this week’s debate over disability benefits:🧵 - Already, 7/10 people referred to @TrussellTrust food banks are disabled. - All independent assessments show UK sicker than it used to be. - Increased poverty a big driver. - Waits for treatment much higher. 1/5

Conservative manifesto out. Overall thoughts: - Disappointing lack of policies offering tangible support for people facing hardship. - Record numbers now having to turn to food banks. Social security cuts risk further endangering people’s ability to afford essentials. 1/3

🚨journalists and commentators🚨 Repeat: PIP is NOT an unemployment benefit Disabled people IN work can claim PIP. It is there to reflect the inequality disabled face in society

❌ We NEVER want to see a sign like this ever again. ❌ The next government has the power to make that happen. They can end the need for food banks.

Today's #KingsSpeech has lots of ambition but there is a critical missing piece... 🧩 Reforming social security so we all have a safety net to rely upon. (1/4)

"But education/work is the real route out of poverty..." You know what makes it easier to do well at school or find a job? Not being hungry and cold!

Very proud of my town this evening #Walthamstow