The Commission is launching its report today at Westminster.

The Right to Food Commission has received a boost on the eve of its UK Parliamentary launch.  The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Sofía Monsalve Suárez, met with Vice Chair Ian Byrne MP, Chair Professor Barrie Margetts and Commissioner Angela Carriedo to welcome the initiative and the package of reforms proposed by the Right to Food Commission.

The UN Special Rapporteur’s support comes as the Commission prepares to launch its report at Westminster today, Tuesday 20th October. It also comes in light of the recent endorsement given to the right to food campaign and its political lead, Ian Byrne MP, by the Prime Minister at Prime Minister’s Questions last week and recent polling that shows huge public support for a right to food.

The Commission report also arrives as the latest cost of living projections show that food and energy bills will rise higher than inflation, compounding the pressures already facing people. The report describes how people already feel insecure about feeding themselves and their families due to low incomes and rising costs for essentials like energy and housing as well as food, as the embodiment of the state failure that the PM recognised, and promised to tackle upon taking office.

The Commission has made clear that food insecurity and people not eating well is a massive economic issue facing the country. They calculated that a £7.8bn annual investment would provide immediate relief to vulnerable communities and families across the country.

This investment would pay for universal free school meals and universal holiday food provision, and fund community kitchens and hubs, for approximately £6 billion in addition to existing and committed government expenditure. It is estimated that the recommendation to scrap the five-week wait for Universal Credit would cost around £1.8 billion.

This immediate relief could be announced in next week’s budget. Money could be raised by tax reforms that do not affect the fiscal rules. For example aligning capital gains tax with income tax could alone raise £12 billion to £14 billion, while aligning taxation of dividends with income tax rates would raise a further £6bn.

The Commission is clear that tackling food insecurity, and ensuring not one person in our country goes hungry, necessitates new thinking and a range of radical policies backed by resources to guarantee every person in this country has the ability to access and purchase food.

These policies include a new Right to Food Law that is accountable, has a Ministry to ensure the Right to Food is implemented and backed up with sufficient public investment.

The Commission also recommends that devolved nations adopt a duty to uphold the right to food for all their people and that the Scottish Government revisits the provision of a Right to Food in Scottish legislation.

Vice Chair of the Commission Ian Byrne MP said: “We are delighted to get the support of the UN Special Rapporteur and we are also pleased at the endorsement given to the Right to Food campaign by Andy Burnham at PMQs last week. We feel that our report presents an unarguable case for a Right to Food, which has huge public support. The people of this country know we cannot go on like this: food insecurity is destroying lives, denying opportunities, and costing the country as well as the 14 million people impacted.

“As we launch in Parliament this week, one week before the budget, we hope that MPs come to offer their support and that government listens to our message. If this government is serious about tackling neoliberal failures and helping people with the cost of living then surely making sure people can eat should be at the top of their list of priorities.”

Chair of the Commission Professor Barrie Margetts said: “We head to Parliament this week to tell the PM and all MPs that our report should be a wake-up call. Next week’s budget is an opportunity to start making the changes to help people enduring food insecurity. It is critical that the Chancellor recognises that unless something is done in the budget, families will really struggle next year.  At present, the PM is tinkering with small changes, but it is clear that we need a major reset of the UK. Ultimately, hunger is a political choice. The PM says he hears this, but he needs to translate words into actual commitments to address the growing crisis. How can such a rich country have such escalating levels of food insecurity? The UK government needs to act now.”

Joint Vice Chair of the Commission Sarah Woolley said: “The support of the UN Special Rapporteur is a huge boost to our campaign and reinforces what we have been saying all along – access to decent, nutritious food is a fundamental human right, not a privilege. As a trade unionist, I see the reality of food insecurity every day. When people working in the food industry cannot afford to feed themselves and their families, we know the system is fundamentally broken.

“We have the evidence, we have the solutions, and we know the money can be found. What we need now is the political will to act. The government must stop treating hunger as inevitable and start treating it as the political choice it is. Nobody should be going hungry in one of the richest countries in the world, and warm words will not put food on people’s tables.”

Recent polling commissioned by Amnesty International UK provided compelling evidence of how concerned people are about the cost of food. Three-quarters of people in the UK say they have been worried about the cost of food in the last year, or know someone who has.

Among those who have worried, or know someone who has, more than eight in ten say they are now more worried than before. Meanwhile, 85% of people across the country say it is unacceptable that some people cannot afford to feed themselves.

The poll also found that 70% of people say they have had to change their eating and shopping habits. Two-thirds think the next generation will find food less affordable than they do.  The poll also found that 82% of people believe there should be a legal right to food.

You can find the full report here. The Parliamentary launch takes place at 6.30-8.00pm, today,  20th October, in Committee Room 8 of the House of Commons.