The Green Party has warned that the use of foodbanks in the UK has become ‘normalised’, pointing to the fact that around 6.5 million people a year turn to charitable food providers and that one in five people doing so are from a working household [1]. 

In 2025, 2.9 million emergency food parcels were provided to people facing hardship across the UK between April 2024 and March 2025, with more than a million of these provided for children [2]. 

Green Party leader Zack Polanski and deputy leader, Rachel Millward, will use a visit to a Community Fridge in Sussex on Wednesday [3] to announce measures to end the ‘normalisation’ of food banks and tackle the ‘affordability crisis’. They will call for: 

• universal support with energy bills this winter 

• the extension of free school meals to all primary and secondary pupils 

• the introduction of rent controls – because housing costs are one of the greatest impacts on household poverty  

• the UK to join a customs union with the EU to reduce costs to businesses 

•  the introduction of a 10:1 pay ratio which would help increase wages for those on lower incomes while limiting the salaries of high-paid executives. 

Zack Polanski, leader of the Green Party said:  

“The affordability crisis is something affecting nearly everyone, from the most vulnerable to people in work and comfortable, where any change in circumstance can push people over the edge into requiring a foodbank. This crisis is totally avoidable and down to choices made by this Labour government and previous Tory governments. The Greens have a plan which would make different choices, taking on corporate power and vested interests to give ordinary people a way out of this crisis” 

Rachel Millward, deputy leader of the Green Party said: 

“The UK is the sixth largest economy in the world [4] where the 50 richest families hold more wealth than the poorest 50% of the population [5]. Yet millions face food insecurity, food poverty and turn to foodbanks to prevent them going hungry. A high proportion of these are people from working households.  

“It’s time to end the normalisation of food bank use and the scourge of food and energy poverty affecting so many families. Greens are bringing policies to the table to do just that.” 

Notes 

1. Food-bank-facts-1.pdf 
2. UK sees 51% rise in emergency food parcels for families, says Trussell | Charity Today News 
3. GDP by Country (2026) – Worldometer 
4. UK’s richest 50 families have more wealth than 50% of the population